Tomato Sauce - トマトソース
by SassySizzleMonster
Summary: I guess that whole death by ice cream truck was entirely worth it if you got to reincarnate into your favorite world, especially when you were technically related to the main man himself. SI OC Insert [DISCONTINUED UNTIL DECIDED OTHERWISE]
1. 人生のメリーゴーランド - Merry-Go-Round of Life

**マリーの架空世界 ****\- Mary's Fictional World**

同じ声に 同じ風景に

Same voice, same sight.

気付けずに 心は弾むのでしょう

I guess I noticed my heart jump,

また次の同じ未来も

Still the same future repeats.

新しく思えてしまうのでしょう

You'd even think it's new.

「どうしたの？わからないよ」

"What should I do? I still don't know."

君の目は固く閉じて

Your eyes firmly shut.

夕焼けの色 伝う涙は

The sunsets color, the trailing tears,

切に願う 心を赤く染める

Earnestly hoping, as the heart becomes dyed in red.

「あのね、また明日も次の日も

"Y'know what? Day after day, and the next day after that,

君と居られたなら、嬉し過ぎて」

I'd be extremely happy if you stayed."

きっと私は、ただ繰り返す

Surely, as usual, I'll repeat it all,

君と明日の空を眺めるため

So together we can continue to watch the sky.

いつか望ていた世界に出逢う為

So someday, I can meet the world I hoped for.

_Song by __じん_

_Translation by SassySizzleMonster(Me)_

**A/N: **Hiya there, I wanted to write something a little unique, if only a little bit, and so this bloomed.

**Warning:** Language

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, un.

I thought death wasn't supposed to hit me for a long time. Well I guess we never really know when that's about to happen but really, at my age? It doesn't happen often. And with my lifestyle? It was laughable.

Sadly, no matter how cool it would be to brag about, I couldn't say I was done in by a criminal car chase with the cops zooming by. To be honest, if anyone in the afterlife asked, I'd probably say that still. If anything, I should say that tiny lie and hope the secret of how I _really_ died, died there. Lame pun intended.

For me it wasn't even death by some crazy disaster. I mean, if you call being hit by an ice cream truck a crazy disaster, then yeah. But you'd probably think more about the poor ice cream that would be wasted as they melted on the heated summer ground. Sad really when you think about it. Pieces fell where they did for a reason, however.

Dying wasn't even that bad, I guess. I guess it would've been if I'd died like five hours after the accident, especially after being squashed from the thing. Hmm, let me rephrase that. At least I didn't suffer from the pain. Yeah, not a real fan of that stuff. I mean, at least I got to call myself a hero and even got the instant death package! Super! If anything would keep me from telling a lie, it would be the fact that I saved some stray wandering kids when the truck lost control. However, the reasons why I would even consider lying about my heroic deed, was the irony. Ironic because my dad owned an ice cream parlor, and would always preach how ice cream accidents rarely happened because ice cream trucks don't really go that fast. In fact, I should be ashamed of being done in by such a thing but it was whatever, irrelevant. It wasn't like I could help dying, not like I could've let such a thing happen to those kids instead.

I just didn't want the ghosties to make fun of me. When I was... y'know, a ghost.

Funny thing though, usually when you die, you think, okay, let's go to heaven! I'm not quite sure what was supposed to happen aside from that rumor, but when I finally woke I thought, _oh, so I'm_ not _dead_. Which was understandable when you felt alive. But for me, I wasn't greeted with a golden gate in the middle of a cloud with angels singing all the songs you've loved throughout your life. Like y'know, things along the line of anime, j-pop, k-pop with plenty of vocaloid mixed in. Maybe there could've been all my favorite characters there, from all the new anime and even old ones. Basically from every fandom I was in.

I could just imagine the cast of Shingeki no Kyojin coming to greet me, and me saying something along the lines of, "Hah! I knew you were all actors! You never died!" Then I'd remember that actually, the only ones that were there were the dead ones, and that the people alive in their respective shows...well _weren't_ there.

I'm pretty sure I would make a great comedian with my messed up sense of humor.

What greeted me wasn't that heartbreak, thankfully. Or rather, _un-_thankfully, it was of a different sort of heartbreak. I felt fear, chilling and cold, and once I finally became aware of my surroundings, with very fuzzy, hazy feeling that only triggered fear, I struggled. The thing was, I could only kick and even then I wasn't able to feel anything. I saw only a bleak darkness, only barest of light noticeable in the container I was in. That, or I couldn't open my eyes. I was scared, the feeling settling itself deep within my bones until all I felt was a chill so severe I couldn't stop shaking, so terrified that I kept on kicking, hoping to break free of my prison.

I never liked the dark, in fact every time I went to bed, I believe I might've been the only nearly 20 year old that kept a night light near me, and _did_ buy into the the little night light pillows as shown on T.V. I was a wreck without light in the dark. And I was even more of one when I was alone.

So kick after kick, I dabbed my stubby legs into the mushy wall that kept me in the dark.

Wait...stubby? That didn't make sense, my legs were long and slender. I had always been a tall girl after all, I mean you couldn't deny it when I was 185 cm's(roughly 6'0). Sure there were ladies taller than me, but that was well above the average. But other than that I was perfectly average.

Still, I was getting side tracked, but surely gaining a set of stubby legs meant something, right?

Where the heck was I? If not in heaven then...

Was I really alive?

**(**๑╹**っ╹**๑**)**

I'd like to say I popped out easily, but that wasn't the case at all. In all actuality it was hard for my...life giver, I had no clue where the hell I was being born in but the thing was, this was definitely no hospital birth. For one thing, my _Life Giver_ screamed the entire time as old hands, withered with time cupped my head. God damn, was I that big? How long was Life Giver gonna scream? It took me a while to realize that it was only partly Life Giver's screaming. I had a role to play in the screaming too.

I heard a deep rumble, a shaky one that spoke words of alien meaning. I could only guess but it was only after years of watching anime that this language was Japanese. I didn't know Japanese. Well, I'd studied it for a time, but only brushed up on the reading of it once or twice. I knew a hint of Katakana, didn't know shit in Kanji, and had my Hiragana memorized. You'd think that after so many years of anime watching I'd pick up on the language quickly, right? Pfft, heck no. That shit was a little hard, especially since I wasn't all that into the whole _studying_ crap.

The man, well I assumed him to be a man, lifted me to another set of arms. These ones were cold and shaky. The man spoke again and I was glad that I caught a bit of the meaning.

"This is your gujyo." The fuck is a gujyo? Lets hope it means girl, if it's not girl I'm going to have a tantrum.

"Gujyo?" I heard a softer croak, coming from the cold arms. "Ah...I see...how cute, huh?"

Then they rambled on between each other until the Life Giver... my mother faded with the little warmth she had.

**(**๑╹**っ╹**๑**)**

_5 months later_

_I can sit up on my own!_

I toppled over once the thought was over.

"Koi, what are you doing?" The old man asked as he chuckled deeply, his face clearer now that my eyes had developed enough to see him. He had white hair, as too be expected, with a long beard, like the emperor from Mulan. His eyes were a light blue, weird to think they could be that way when he spoke fluent Japanese yet didn't...quite look the part. I wasn't sure of what ethnicity he was, but that hardly mattered I guess.

I grinned at him, rolling my body to the side.

"You're going to give this old man a heart attack." I gave him another grin as I tried to set myself back onto my butt.

Who would've thought that only being in Japan, or wherever the frick we were would increase my vocabulary so much!? I still didn't know most words but if you pieced it up with the ones you did know, getting a sentence was a lot easier. Of course sometimes it didn't work like that, and since the old man was old I could hardly understand his old grumbling most of the time.

I was already rolling over, too! And sitting up without the vice like grip the old man had on me was becoming so much easier.

"Are you hungry? We have left over tomato sauce...somewhere." The old man left my point of view, leaving me on the old tatami mat. I rolled around on it, getting a slight kick out of that, heck yeah I was already on my way to crawling!

The old man came back with a bowl, heated but not boiling. I wish he'd make some noodles with it too, just like spaghetti but he never did. I guess it was because I was too young? Who knew when I'd be able to eat solid foods. I'm sure I was getting there, I mean my gums were definitely starting to hurt. That was a sign right? I remember when my baby sister started to teeth. Ugh, that was a nightmare, I'd hardly gotten sleep those nights.

My little sister...huh, I wonder how they're doing? My old family. The thought sent a wave of nostalgia and memories but then it also triggered a question: if they were my old family, was this old man my new one? I kind of liked that...I liked him. Somehow, even if I were to think about depressing things like the old days, my mind always thought back to him and his warm comfort. Then I would feel better!

Some nights, I realized, he's really all I have. This old man...I wouldn't be alive without him, quite literally as the person who was supposed to raise this new body was...dead. Somehow, I felt saddened by this, as if in some way, I'd also made a bond with her. In another way, I felt strengthened by her, as if she was still with me.

I shook my head of the thoughts and quite literally (not literally) took an airplane into the mouth. Yay! Airplanes! I was lucky to have such a great man to look after me while I was in this helpless form.

In what I hoped was repayment, I continued to giggle brightly as he flew in the said tomato sauce. I liked it for some reason, even if in my old life I'd never go near tomatoes. I mean, I liked them in specific things but never straight from the source itself. I was weird like that back then.

"Eat it all up, so you can grow up to be a healthy, spirited Uzumaki."

Uzu...maki?

_Huh?!_

**(**๑╹**っ╹**๑**)**

_Two years later_

"Come, koi." I liked how sometimes Jii-chan would call me with both koi's, the one for come and the other one for love. There was also carp but I refused to think I was named after a fish. Besides, my full name was Koikan...which kan meant feeling or sensation. I personally think it would've made more sense as Aikan, but whatever. Better than feeling of carp. "I want to teach you something."

I obeyed and scuffled over, I could walk but of course, I was too lazy to do as such. "What?" I asked as I took a seat in his huge lap.

He chuckled and rubbed the top of my head. "Seals."

Oh yeah. I was in that stupid world. Maybe I should've noticed earlier, but since I was generally an accepting person of any situation, I just let all the hints pass me by. What was even weirder though was that I never even noticed where I was. Of course, being in the ruins of the place would hardly make me think about where I was, but when you looked closer you could clearly see the signs...the whirlpools.

The place I was in...it was the ruins of a once great and powerful village. I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about. Uzushiogakure, aka the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools. I guess not everyone left the village or died when it was destroyed. Namely my mother and Jii-chan. He never told me the story of how my mother came to meet him, but I speculate the two weren't related like father and daughter.

"Fuinjutsu is unique, most jutsu's you may come across can't seal an entire being inside something else. Koi, did you know that Uzushio was once a powerful village? We were feared...and because of that we met an early demise."

"What!?" I scrambled out of his seat. "That's terrible!" I know, I'm overreacting, but I had to keep my reaction normal. Plus I wanted to move around a little, feeling a bit excited at being taught new things. So much for being lazy, right? Here there was no such thing as lazing around. There was always something to do, like farming, cleaning, and hunting for dinner. Yeah, we were kind of barbaric but we didn't have any stall vendors around or Ichiraku's Ramen there. We were on our own.

He chuckled, "You're stepping all over the scrolls." I looked down immediately to see all the scrolls scatter under my feet. I gave a sheepish grin to Jii-chan before sitting back down in his lap.

"Soooo, are we gonna make some seals?" I bounced in his lap and played with the papers around me. I was so excited. I mean, hell yes! I was going to learn fuinjutsu from an actual Uzumaki! Then again, I guess I was an Uzumaki too.

Listen up Naruto, we're practically cousins, am I right? I'm so right. I guess I'm also related to Karin and Nagato, too. And definitely Kushina! Yes! And Mito! Probably very distantly though. Get it? She's from the past! That was a knee-slapper, surely.

And no, I knew Mito was possibly alive, as Kushina had to replace her as Jinchuriki when Uzushio was destroyed and Mito was all old and crap. I get that, but there was an even higher possibility for me to have been born a couple years after all that. Who knows, maybe I'm Naruto's age.

"No, not today. We're going to practice your chakra techniques for now." I tried not to show my disappointment but it went away quickly. I mean, you can't expect a two year old - nearly three year old - to understand how to make seals in less than a day, I'm not even sure that with an adult mind I could do that.

"So what's that?" I asked innocently.

"Chakra is the components made from both spiritual energy. That being your experiences, and physical energy, which is made from the effort you put through in exercise. You understand?"

I nodded, yup, knew that already. Like who did he think I was? Naruto? Pft, pahhleeeaasse.

"In order to control your chakra, you must find it." How in the hell did I do that?

"How do I do that?" I gazed up at him expectantly.

"Find your core." What the fuck, are we working at yoga or something? By the way, that joke was in total poor taste, as I don't even know the basics of yoga.

I, of course, concentrated on it, trying to feel around in my body but how do you even do that? Minutes passed and still I couldn't understand the 'find your core bit'. Ugh. I was ready to give up but at the touch of something peculiar, I felt a warm pool of...chakra? I felt giddy and jumped up again. "I got it! I think I got it!"

"What does it feel like? For everyone it may be different, as experiences are different."

"Warm. Very warm." I paused. "It's like a pool! A whirlpool!" I bounced around excitedly, careful not to ruin the scrolls too much.

Jii-chan's stern, teaching face slipped, his lips quirking into a smile, "Good, now sit back down."

I did so but while clinging to the small hope that I didn't have messed up chakra coils. Since chakra was made from experiences...and I had a lot more than a 2 year old...of course I worried about that. Whatever, I was a pretty accepting person after all.

"As an Uzumaki, our clan has always had the most chakra compared to others. Want to know why?" I nodded again. "It's because as an Uzumaki, we all have great life forces. So our training exercises with chakra is a bit different compared to others, as far as I know."

"Because it's so large?" I asked. "The amount of chakra we have?"

"Yes. Under normal circumstances, it would be a bit hard to master your chakra the normal way." Jii-chan turned away from me, his body craning around to the book case behind him. He grabbed a text book and placed it in front of my face. "This is our instruction manual. It's been years since I've done this." Jii-chan laughed, a smile on his lips.

"How old are you?" I asked a little excitedly. I mean, he looked to be late 50s, but who knew. With old people you never knew.

"Young lady, never ask the age of a gentlemen." Wow, he was pulling that trick on me? Nice, real nice. I nodded with a roll to my eyes. "The training exercises, are you curious?" Well fucking duh.

"Yes. I wanna be like you!" I pulled out all the stops, batting my eyelashes like the adorable twerp I was.

He cleared his throat with a short chuckle. "Well first how about we take a little walk."

In Uzushio the walks can be kind of cool, even if you've lived there for a while. There's this big river that runs along every piece of land, it's nice. Lots of birds and animals... in fact Uzushio is an entire world on its own. It used to terrify me that there was so much wild life living here now, compared to what it was like even in the small town I lived in. I was a female shut in, in my past life, and even there I learned not to go outside, less you'll be hit by an ice cream truck. (Which I was taking quite personally, thank you very much.)

But here, it may be scary at first...but soon you just got used to it. Two years is a long time after all, even if I could just speed it up in the blink of an eye. Two years to be dead. Two years that I've lived.

Jii-chan lifted me onto his shoulders, ducking under the short ceilings so I wouldn't hit my head by the time we reached the door to the house. Despite living in ruins, it wasn't like we lived in a dump. Nope, it wasn't a shack either. It was a house, one built by Jii-chan and renovated to fit our needs perfectly. It wasn't something big, no, a man and a little girl didn't need that. Wasn't like we were a family of six. It was a two bedroom, one bathroom, and while I would be initially upset about the one bathroom deal, it was a huge ass bathroom and Jii-chan tended to take bathes with me, although he always wore a robe. Going so far to keep me innocent, geez. So it was cool.

We made our way across our yard, which was a garden. Jii-chan had even taken the time to teach me the basics of gardening and herbs used for illnesses. He taught me a lot of things, maybe things that would've been complicated for an actual toddler, but for me it was good knowledge. I knew every plant in the garden, as we had a more vegetarian diet because hunting would've been hard for my old man. He wouldn't admit it, but the rare times we did eat meat he was rather happy, and that was only when Jii-chan's traps sprung. That happened a lot in the summer, but as I'd only lived one and a few weeks of summer, I wasn't quite sure if it was the case all the time.

He taught me ways to preserve food so even while it was winter and everything froze, we didn't die from hunger. I learned how to make a fire safely without burning down our home or the entire island, how to purify the water around us, and so much more that would've not been necessary in my old life. All these things were so exciting!

The sky was especially bright that day, which was a good thing, because we tended to have a lot of rain. As Jii-chan walked towards the traps to look into them, he bended down.

"Looks like it's veggies for dinner again." He murmured and I laughed as he swung me down. "Lets get walking, do I need to carry you or are you a big girl now?"

I took a step past the garden, strutting my stuff as I headed to the nearest part of the lake.

My face hit the sand right beside the lake as I took a wrong step. Smooth, really smooth Koi. I felt those familiar withered hands pick me up into awaiting arms.

"Oh, Koi." Jii-chan's tongue clicked. I giggled as he again set me on top of his shoulders so I could see the world around me. It literally looked like everything expanded, as I've said, Uzushio was very much like a world that belonged solely to my grandfather and I. I loved this place so much, even if I felt lonely from time to time with no one to talk to other than Jii-chan. "You know, along this same river we had festivals."

"Festivals? What are those?" I asked, suddenly interested, he used a word I hadn't known. Jii-chan never talked about how things used to be, he was rather mute on the subject so I'd like to learn anything I could.

"Festivals are times for when the the village would come together and celebrate...but that was a very long time ago, and this old man can hardly remember how it was..."

"What did you celebrate?"

"Everything, love, family, even the gods for giving us fortune among other things."

"Do you miss it?" I asked.

"Of course, but everything's fine as long as I have you." Jii-chan's mouth drew into a tipped smile, the edges of his mouth expanding on his withered face.

"I love you, Jii-chan. But...I kind of want to celebrate it now." I said, hoping to erase that look of sadness in his eyes.

"Oh do you?" Jii-chan's eyes lit at the thought and I saw the idea form in his head.

"Yup."

"Then how about we have a festival, too. With all the animals and plants around us."

"Yes! But right after you teach me that thing!"

"Right, right."

**(**๑╹**っ╹**๑**)**

The thing that he taught me was just an adaption to the leaf practice and water-walking. Except you had to know your affinity, so the reason we had to go on a walk was simply because in the back of the house was a little storage area where Jii-chan kept all his old ninja stuff, I presume.

He handed me a small sheet of paper. "This is chakra paper, although I'm not sure if it will work." He sighed, "You flow your chakra into this. Here." He placed the thin sheet into my hand. I puffed my cheeks, immediately straining myself to get my chakra to move places. Ugh, I couldn't it. This made no sense to me. It was like taking your blood and moving it with your mind, which would've been cool and all but I didn't know exactly what the fuck I was doing. Jii-chan didn't help any, just chuckled a bit, as if I'd get it sooner or later. Which I...I got it!

My chakra touched the paper and I waited for the reaction. A small cut was made, probably not enough chakra but I guess you could still gather what my affinity was. Wind.

"Your chakra type is wind, in our clan that's fairly common, along with the water type. Lucky for you, my chakra affinity is wind." Cool. I was Naruto. "Now, knowing what your chakra type is, we'll get you started on molding it." Wait, isn't that supposed to come after control? Uh, whatever, old man knows best.

"Molding?" I asked.

"Yes, molding it into chains. Sometimes its easier for us Uzumaki to learn from doing the advanced techniques rather than starting from the beginning. We tend to do some things backwards."

Wait a second there...you'd teach a 2 year old how to make chakra chains?! I guess Jii-chan understood the way things were supposed to go better than me, though. And he did have a point, Naruto had mastered the Shadow Clone Jutsu in no time but he couldn't even produce one regular clone without fucking it up.

"Chains?" I asked, just to be sure.

"The Uzumaki clan used them as a type of weapon, an extension of themselves in order to seal or attack someone. I'm teaching you this to defend yourself, but everyone's chains are different, it depends on the will of the user."

"Wait, why do we have to know my chakra type to do that?"

"If you can mold your chains with wind chakra, it makes what I'm about to teach you just that effective."

So I was Kushina, too? Cool.

"How do I do it?" I asked, eyes sparkling and ready.

**(**๑╹**っ╹**๑**)**

_2 Years Later_

So Jii-chan replaced what I thought before wasn't lazing around for training me in everything he knew, which was a lot but it only included things that I could do the way I was. By the age of 4 I knew the basics of fuinjutsu and could form a chakra chain that went a few inches but that was the minimum fruit I'd achieved in those years. Jii-chan was old though, and the lessons stopped after a while.

"Jii-chan!" I shouted. "I made the roast while you were sleeping. Want some?" I padded over to Jii-chan's still form, he breathed softly and whispered a few words of cloaked meaning. I crouched in front of him and only then noticed the silent tears that slid down his face. I patted his shoulder and decided to leave him in peace for the moment.

I went back into the kitchen and grabbed my stool to prop me up. To be expected, I was rather short. I rummaged through the cupboards and came clean with a bowl and a clean plate. The bowl I kept for Jii-chan as I piled in the roast along with a few steamed veggies. I'd caught a rabbit earlier that morning, it was pretty big too, and I'd suspect he was the same rabbit that was chowing down on some of our vegetables that I'd nicknamed Chester. Oh, poor Chester.

I grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the drawer and jumped back down from the stool to enter Jii-chans room again, tip toeing my way to his head. I set the food down right next to him.

"I love you." I whispered before I closed the door again.

Then I cried some tears of my own.

**(**๑╹**っ╹**๑**)**

When someone gets depressed, It's always been hard on me.

I get at a lost for words on how to make things easier for that person, try my hardest to make them happy but depression isn't something easily pushed aside. In fact no one should ever try to push things aside.

Maybe that's why it's a debilitating sickness, in my opinion.

Jii-chan lost his light, and I feared for his life, when for the past weeks he stayed in bed. So I began to do things he used to do for me, for him. It wasn't and easy shift in dependency, I was so used to him waking me up to do things, having him dress me, just having him around.

One morning as I was steaming rice, Jii-chan left his room and gazed at my small form. Once I turned toward him, he smiled for the first time in weeks.

"Koi, you've been such a great child." He told me, and tears were brought to his eyes as he looked me. I grew confused but was surprised when he pulled me into a warm hug.

"Jii-chan?" I whispered, hearing a slight crack in my voice.

"I'm sorry for being so selfish, even at this age."

"It's fine though, we take care of each other." I told him, patting him on the back where my short arms could reach across.

"Koi, I've decided to stop being selfish."

What? What is he even saying? For a moment the Japanese I'd learned over the years failed me and I was silent, my mind racing with intangible words that wouldn't form into a grammatically correct sentence to convey my feeling.

"We're going to be leaving our home." Jii-chan told me, lifting me on his chest as he looked me in the eyes.

"W-what?"

"I want you to experience festivals, and happiness surrounded by the warmth of others and not just me. I want you to have friends, people to protect and to live a truly happy life, even when I'm no longer in this world."

_Even when I'm no longer in this world._ It struck me, I knew how death went, I'd experienced it first hand and yet he said those words like they could just slip from his tongue with no consequences.

"You have to stay with me though..." I mumbled.

He caressed my cheek with his rough hands, his thumb rubbing underneath the corner of my eye to catch the droplets of wetness that slid from my eyes.

"I will for as long as you need." He told me.

I nodded.

A promise sweared upon these feelings the wetness brought from the overflowing warmth of true love.

Don't fail me.

**A/N:** So, thank you for reading. I've revamped this story with the help of my sister, who won't let me give this up. Geez. So to those who've read this entire thing of 10 chapters, sorry but could you re-read it, if you really like it that is. I'm deleting the rest of the chapters after updating this one, but then I'm going to reupdate all those chapters with the edited versions. So I don't actually quit this story, I'm changing some of the story, adding some scenes to make things flow better and cutting some things that I didn't like.

Thank you for understanding! Also, notice the cover? I drew it, HHH

SassySizzleMonster


	2. Chapter 2

**刹那プラス ****\- Momentary Plus**

どうして君は人に 嘘をついても平気そうなの

How can you be so calm after lying to someone?

きっと小さな小さな嘘が 嘘の形を変えてしまった

Surely small, small lies have change the shape of the lie.

どうして君は笑顔 誰に構わず見せてしまうの

How can you always smile at anyone?

きっと難攻不落の壁の 向こう側では鬱が覗いた

Surely, on the other side of your impregnable wall, you're really upset.

君の事が心配なのさ

Because I'm worried about you,

下心でも構わないでしょう

even my ulterior motives don't matter.

_Song by MikitoP/__みきと__P_

_Translation by AmeSubs_

**A/N:** Thank you, thank you for the support!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto

**Warning:** Language.

"Unf." I hit the floorboards. I was lucky that I hardly registered pain in this body, less I would be a sobbing mess with nothing better to do.

"Koi, are you alright?" Jii-chan called from his room.

"Yeah!" I scrambled up, racing to my room with the things I'd found in my mini adventure around the ruins. I sprawled my loot around on the sheets of my bed. It was the usual; there were scrolls, old weapons I wasn't sure of the name on, and definitely a lot of other cool things like that. I even found an old necklace! It was pretty, the engraving of someone's name on the back of a green emerald. I couldn't read the name though, as it had been nearly completely erased from it's age and time in the dirt.

I ran to the bathroom right beside my room and found a bucket to fill with water. Yes, despite living in poor conditions, we had running water, I mean we did have a freakin river right next to us! And Jii-chan is smart. With building excitement, I filled the bowl up and shoved the necklace into the water. Instantly, the dirt came away, revealing a bit more of the engravings.

To my surprise, it wasn't a name at all; it was a word. Hope. I felt giddy as I held it, as if I was getting away with something I shouldn't.

Jii-chan knocked on the door and I stuck the necklace into the folds of my obi right before I went to open the door. He sighed at me, lifting the scrolls and items that I'd scrounged up in his hands. I gave him a sheepish grin.

"I found cool things!" I swung past him and into the living room. He came after me with a sigh, despite that, a tiny smile at his lips.

"Come here, little Koi. Let's look through your _cool things_." He sat down at the table on his pillow and I sat in his lap. He spread the stuff on the table and immediately snatched up one of the scrolls. He pressed it open with his thumb, rubbing at the withered page. He spread that out too, getting a look at the fading seals. He grinned. "Koi, where did you find this?"

"There was this house full of these things a few kilometers away. I can take you there if you want!" I bounced in his lap and he had to hug me to get me to stop.

"Koi, this is a pretty helpful seal, it's for memories."

"Memories?"

"Helps you to never forget."

"So like with studying it might help?" I asked poking at the paper.

"Yes, but it's a flesh seal. I absolutely forbid you from learning it because of that." He slammed the scroll back in place and slipped the seal inside his obi.

Geez, what a cheapskate.

"What? Why not!?"

"They look gaudy when on the skin of a lady," Jii-chan sniffed. Oh, so they were like tattoos, that's why he didn't want them on me. "Though I will teach you how to make them, but only when you're older."

Wow. Whatever old man.

Jii-chan coughed, covering his mouth with his sleeve. I jumped from my spot and rushed to the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. When I came back with the cup in hand, Jii-chan was laughing his familiar chuckle. The laugh he made when I was being kind of an idiot.

"I cough and you react as if I'm dying."

"B-but-!"

"No buts, I won't be dying for a long time, I still need to care for you after all." Jii-chan patted his lap again, another smile for me, this one soft and a relief. I sat back down and messed with the other scrolls. "How did you manage to find only flesh seals?" Fuinjutsu wasn't simply sealing chakra or objects, you could capture anything if you wanted to, memories, thoughts, etc. There was no limit but to the rest of the world there was, fuinjutsu was hardly taught aside from the seals that aided in storage, or ones that seals biju. Even the seals to contain biju were only taught to the ones who had an understanding of fuinjutsu and there weren't a lot of people who did.

"I guess I like body art." I stated.

"Listen Koi, sealing people isn't very nice, and sealing yourself is even worse. I knew people whose entire bodies were nothing but seals and in the end they were only a fragment of what they were in the past." Jii-chan rubbed my head and took a sip of the water I got for him.

"Roger!" I smiled. "I think fuinjutsu's the best, but being kind is fun, too." I played with the junk weapons for a tad bit longer before pushing them away, no longer amused with their rusted steel.

"Hey, Koi, where would you like to go?" Jii-chan gathered the scrolls and placed them with the memory seal. I gave him an odd look. Why was he asking me? One doesnt really ask a toddler when it comes to life desisions.

"Hmm?" I murmured, a small frown on my face. Where could we go though? "Why do you even want to leave here?" It was literally perfect for the both of us.

"I only want what's best for your future."

I _guess_ I was missing out on a lot of things, but I was comfortable here, more so than in my last life where I never felt comfortable anywhere but on the computer. Here there was no where for me to feel awkward.

"Koi," I looked up at my name. Jii-chan smiled, his face alit in the afternoon glow. He looked more lively than I'd seen him lately, perhaps he'd been thinking over these kinds of things a lot lately?

Maybe leaving to a place where he didn't need to work so often would be better for him as well.

"_Okay_." I surrendered, if a little bit put off.

**('▽^****人****)**

Jii-chan had been the one to decide where he wanted to take me, Kumogakure. It wasn't like he disliked Konoha, it was just that he knew the power of Kumo. The military power of Kumo was ranked at the top with only Iwa as its rival in that department. To add to that, the economy was the best out of every village out there, with a five out of five star rating. It made sense to me that we go there as well, we not only wanted a place to live but a place to thrive. Kumo was the best place for us.

"Is Kumogakure fine with you?" Jii-chan asked suddenly as we made our way through the ocean on a boat we hopped on when we reached the closest water country border and ship that would take us.

I nodded. I mean, of course, that's where B was, right? "Yup! I'm sure Kumo is great." I snuggled into Jii-chan with a grin. Maybe leaving Uzushiogakure was the best choice after all. I mean they were ruins and the only friends I had were animal friends, and I was sure as hell I wasn't Juugo of all people.

I missed Uzushio though, but I forced myself to keep my head afloat, above that depressing river that might've drowned me if it weren't for the hopes I had for the future. I was excited after all, I was going to finally see ninja for the first time, maybe even get a hint as to where I was in the story. I could be Naruto's age, or not even close. I could even be Kushina's age, however old she was. This was my chance right? And for some reason going to Kumo was an even less frightening thing than what it might've been if I went to Konoha. I would've died from the nerves by now if it were there.

"Are you scared?" Jii-chan asked, a quiet smile for me. I was sure leaving Uzushio was even tougher for him than it was for me. I mean, sure, I was born there but he was too. And to add to that, it had been his home for years! It must've hurt so much to leave that island. His memories...

"No, are you?" I smirked at him, burrowing into his warmth.

"Of course I am! Haha, it's scary village, big and brave. I'd sure like to see you grow up like that."

"Pft, I won't grow up unless you want me to."

"Then can I keep you like this forever?" Jii-chan attacked me with his fingers, and I gasped for breath as he tickled my sides.

"No!" I gasped out. "Your attacks don't work on me, old man!" I shouted with laughter once I stepped away from his grip.

Sometimes, I wished I could keep this forever too.

**('▽^****人****)**

A day before reaching the gates of Kumo, Jii-chan pulled me aside and told me very strictly what he wanted from me.

To dye my hair and hide the fact I had any relation to the family name of Uzumaki. I looked at him, a tad bit angry at the suggestion.

"I don't want to! I like my hair!" I told him quite honestly, really it was the prettiest, like silk almost, it curled though and bounced in a nice way unlike Kushina's or Nagato's who had straight hair. "Aren't we supposed to take pride in the fact that we're Uzumaki?!"

"Koi." Jii-chan looked at me quite seriously, "Kumo is a place where rarities such as a seals master or more specifically an Uzumaki wouldn't be allowed such a thing as pride."

With those words I understood, and so I dutifully dyed my hair to a boring black, my only saving grace the yellow eyes that reminded me of a cats.

Once we were at the gates I looked around nervously. I didn't know how ninja's would treat foreign people, but they wouldn't kill us on spot right?

"This is Kumo?" I asked suspiciously, there were rocks everywhere, which made me positive this was actually Iwa, and nobody liked Iwa. Heck, even someone as cool as Deidara left that village.

"Yes, but don't feel bad, I'm sure they have trees somewhere."

They better, I missed my green.

We walked towards the gates, a set of kumo-nin at the ready, even if we were the most defenseless people possible to feel pressured from. I mean, we're just an old man and a little girl. Plus, we were both adorable. Jii-chan was cute in the old way obviously, and me obviously because I was a little toddler with big eyes and smile. Frick yes, I was cute and that's what mattered.

"Hello," Jii-chan started to the guards. He gave them both kind smiles. "We're travelers and we'd like to stay in your village."

"Travelers?" The guards gave us an odd look, as if questioning why an old geezer and a little girl would want to travel anywhere. I smiled up at him for brownie points.

"Yup! But we're sick of traveling!" I grumbled for good measure. "So we wanna find a place to live!" I gripped Jii-chan's hand in my own and swung it around. He laughed good naturedly.

"Do you now?" One of the guards came over and bent down to look at me, kneeling right besides me with a calming aura. He rubbed the top of my head and gave me a grin. Well, I guess people weren't all that intimidating now that they thought I was some cute little girl. It was weird though, being around people. I never even realized how small my world was until I stepped down and onto the rocks of the land of lightning. Being around others kind of scared me, I mean in this life Jii-chan was the only person I'd ever seen or talked to with my own eyes. But at the same time it felt right, you can't go on in life ignoring people.

But they felt so alien like! I kept wondering if my Japanese was good, as if that's the thing that was hindering me from speaking more fluently to a complete stranger.

"Sorry, my granddaughter is rather excitable." Jii-chan said, a fond look on his face.

"I can see that." The guard laughed as I bounced on my heels. They ached but I ignored them, it was easy when pain didn't bother me in this body. "Well, I'll need your jiji to sign a few things before we can let you in, but it'll be over in a jiffy."

"M'kay!" I watched as Jii-chan walked with the guard to the little box at the gate. Ugh, I was bored now that they were gone and signing those papers. So bored that I walked up to the stony guard with a tight face. I beamed up at him.

"What?" He asked, as if he might've had something on his face.

"You're a ninja, right?" I asked. He nodded. "That's so cool! I want to be one, too! I've only read about you guys, but you guys are super awesome!" I bounced around on my feet, practically dancing around him. Then I started to imitate the basic karate I knew from my previous life, which wasn't anything that I hadn't seen on TV.

"Woah, kid. Slow down." The gruff guard said, a slight turn of the lips telling me he was amused. "Being a ninja is hard work, do you think you're up for it?"

"Heck yes I am! I'm my Jii-chan's granddaugher after all!"

"Is that so?" The guard sniffed, his hand coming to rub underneath his nose. "You're interesting, kid." His stiff form softened if only a bit and his stoic face pulled slightly into a small smile. Yes! Mission complete!

Jii-chan and the other guard came back. Jii-chan's eyebrows furrowed so slightly that if you hadn't known him as well as I, you would've missed it completely. The guards gave us directions to the cheapest inns we could stay at for the time being and then we were set.

They were nice people.

**('▽^****人****)**

I walked back to the gates alone. It'd been a few weeks in Kumo and Jii-chan and I had found a small apartment for the two of us. It wasn't as big as our old house, but it was fine. Like I've said, we didn't need much other than food or a warm place to sleep. The best part was that it was close to the gates, so I could visit my new guard friends anytime they had a shift, as I didn't have school here.

"Tamaki-nii!" I jumped the closest guard when I arrived at my destination. This guard was the first one I'd met, the nicer of the two but he could be scary when he wanted to be. Tamaki was a dark skinned chunin, he had blonde hair though, which made no sense to my foreign mind and I suddenly understood a bit of what people in my old world must've felt when coming across someone of different colors. Confusion. I was confused about the genetics of this world. It wasn't even the fact that Tamaki was dark skinned, it was the fact that he had blonde hair! I understood the skin part! Just not the hair!

When I'd asked Tamaki if he'd ever dyed his hair, he said no, that it was natural! Ugh, I needed a science book.

"Hi, Koi-chan." Tamaki replied, yanking me from him like I was some puppy trying to get into something. "How's your jiji?"

"He's healthy!" I dropped from his grip and raced over to Katai, who had the same complexion as Tamaki was his brother, so he too had that blonde hair that confused me so. He let out a grunt as I jumped atop his back. "Hi, Katai-san."

"Oh, it's you, you little rascal." Katai lifted me the same way Tamaki had. "Why can't you be some hot girl or something? Lame. I don't want a shrimp. Here, Tamaki, I believe this is yours."

"Gah! Katai-nii! Just you wait! I'll make you eat your words!" Katai was my favorite, but I'd never dare tell him that. I was handed to a laughing Tamaki, who accepted me just the way I was.

"I don't know, I think I prefer this cute little girl to any crazy woman you have in mind." Tamaki patted me on the top of my head once he set me down. He bent down to my size. "Katai is just a big old meany, besides, shrimp is delicious. I could just eat you up!"

He grabbed for me again, ready to attack me with tickles and I let him, laughing as I kicked out my limbs to retaliate. "No!" I breathed out. "Stooooopppp!"

"Nom, nom, nom!"

I was surprised at first by how childish these two could act, but they were only 19, so I guess it was fine. I mean, I was technically twenty-five and all so I wasn't that much older mentally. Well actually correction, I kind of had the mentality of a five year old, so I guess it was something I was supposed to have, I mean I was never all that mature in my old life so I guess age didn't matter when it came to how you acted. Sure, I liked to think of myself as an adult, but truth be told, I was only a mini-adult.

Tamaki pretended to eat my arms as I squirmed and begged Katai for help but he ignored the two of us, acting as if we were some stupid people. Suddenly Tamaki stopped.

"Hey, Koi, did you know me and Katai are gonna become a jounin pretty soon?" Tamaki set me back down on the ground.

"What!? Really? Katai, too? Katai-nii and Tamaki-nii are so cool!" I bounced my way to Katai and jumped up and down. He sighed but bent down to pick me up. "You're so awesome. But what does it mean to become jounin?"

They both laughed at my stupidity. Any normal little person my age who'd grown up in a ninja village would know exactly what that meant, that the person becoming a jounin was an even more badass person than you thought! But since I was playing country bumpkin, I let their snickers slide. This time.

"It means we won't be placed to watch these gates anymore, so-" Tamaki started, he was cut off immediately by my screech of disapproval.

"What!?" I demanded. "So I can't see Katai-nii and Tamaki-nii anymore?" I begged for the better answer. Damn it, these guys were growing on me. I pressed my hands to my eyes, trying to stop the tears from coming. The thing about being a five year old was that your emotions were never really concealed, and they were extreme emotions. I snuggled my face into Katai's chest, who seemed genuinely surprised by my outburst.

"Not necessarily, you can come see us! You can come to our house! It'll be fun!" Tamaki consoled.

"I can go to your house?" I peeked at Tamaki, whose eyebrows were furrowed in a concerned fashion. He nodded immensely. I sighed, peeling my hands from my face and shifting around in Katai's arms. He held me bridal style, which is pretty funny to envision Katai doing that with anyone. So without knowing I let out a little pft, which I covered up with a sniff.

"Yup! And you'll get to meet our baby brothers and family, and the rest of our clan!"

Clan? Hmm, I knew nothing about clans in Kumo, so this would be an interesting and informative journey to the guys house.

"Okay!" I jumped, which Katai responded to that with setting me back down on the ground. Yay! I'd get to meet their people. New people! New people! Yes!

**('▽^****人****)**

When I got home, I told Jii-chan the news. His face grew into a big grin at the thought of me meeting new people. Of course he said that'd he'd come just to check the place out, wouldn't want his five year old ward get into trouble with people or get taken or something. I'm pretty certain this isn't how things happened in a ninja village, I mean come on, this is a frickin place of military power!

But despite all that, I was feeling pretty excited. Yup, this village was a good thing for me.

**A/N:** Yo! Hope you enjoyed! Warning for those who haven't read this before it was revamped there will be a heck of a lot of OC's and false things about kumo (things I make up since foreign ground.) Also I'm making shit up about fuinjutsu. Forgive me Kishi-sensei! I bet you're wondering about why I picked kumo in the first place XD (Actual Answer: it's because I'm sick of the SI's based in Konoha.) My excuse: I wanted to do something creative! yeah!

_Edited by Orokashii_


	3. Chapter 3

**やけるさかな ****\- Burnt Fish**

余計な言葉借りて死んでった

Unnecessary words borrowing death,

うるさい奴らはどうして眠らない

They're so annoying, why can't they sleep?

眩しい気がした声も介さずに

A dazzling mind, a voice to assist

息の無い声は直ぐに燃えきった

A breath no longer there, a voice that immediately burns.

「僕もきっとそうだ」と思えたのに 鈍感なパロディーが邪魔で

"I certainly think that it so," that's how it appears, a thick headed parody intruding.

言葉無くとも通じてたものが 何時の間にやら無くなってた

Words that don't exist surely understand, before you know it, it disappears.

腹いせに放火魔になるような 若々しい自信も無くて

I'll get revenge and become something like a pyromaniac, my young confidence doesn't exist.

不承不承善人の振りして 馬鹿になりたいと思った

Good people reluctantly appear, they think a fool of what I've become.

_Words by Nuyuri/__ぬゆり_

_Translation by Me (SassySizzleMonster)_

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

**Warning:** Language

**Real Quick**: Also before you continue, I gave a clan name to Darui, I'm sorry, and I'm making up last names for a lot of other kekkei genkai holders in Kumo. Darui's fake made up clan name is Yoarashi/夜嵐, it means night storm, and since he has the storm kekkei genkai I thought it only fitting. Sooo, thanks for being understanding.

"Can I be a ninja, too?" I asked as Tamaki swung me around in his arms. We were on our way to his house, and with us were Katai and Jii-chan. Jii-chan walked right besides me, keeping a watchful eye on the shinobi who held me. Wasn't like Tamaki would do anything to me, he was a good guy after all.

"No." Was Jii-chan's quick reply. I scoffed at him as Tamaki swung me towards Jii-chan.

"What! Why not?" I kicked at Jii-chan, my tiny scandals barely touching the hems of his robed sleeves. Dang it. I swung towards Katai next.

"She can if she wants to," Tamaki said. "Not like we're against having more shinobi join our ranks. I have siblings her age and they're already training." That was probably because they were clan kids. I found out about it once Tamaki admitted to being in one, of course idiot Katai kept quiet. Mister, I try to be stoic-faced. I didn't know much about Kumo clans and families but I would now with the help of Tamaki.

"I've trai-" Jii-chan coughed at me to stop. With a small sigh I let go of the subject and let Tamaki carry me the rest of the way while I continued to pout.

I wanted to become a ninja, hell, didn't everyone? I guess it was a little dangerous though, so it probably wasn't the best of ideas. I mean I did come from a world where conflict wasn't something I had to deal with often. I watched the violent acts from afar, not up close. I was never one to get into fights, even if I hated the person. I was a relatively calm, "smart type," of person. I think that was probably why I didn't have many friends. That and I never left the house unless it was to go to school, and even then I had work online, coding webpages for my money. I led a very enclosed life, hadn't I? I guess that was all the more reason to be a ninja, so I could see many things and grow from my fear of the outside world.

To me, I hadn't thought much of this as being the outside. It had been a fictional place and I'd lived in the pages for so long that I was already comfortable being in this world. I guess the only thing to fear here were the people, so maybe being a civilian was helpful in that I wouldn't have to deal with anyone all that much.

You're probably wondering how a shut-in like me managed to get mauled by an ice cream truck in the first place, well it was actually one of the few occasions where I had to run an errand for my dad, and I of course went like the diligent stupid fuck I was. That was the only reason why I died. Geez, I just hoped dad didn't blame himself for that.

Like a dejected puppy they carried me to their compound, the Yoarashi clan's place.

"My little brother has a little play mate with him today, so I wanted to bring Koi-chan over when he did, is that fine with you?" Tamaki asked, a slight smile on his lips as he looked towards Jii-chan. The old man nodded his face drawn in an expression of thought.

"Good."

I looked up to the houses all lining around rocks and other land formations. Kumo had a lot of rocks, but there were trees there too, they were hard to spot though. The house in question that belonged to the brothers was a rather huge building that resembled a more traditional Japanese estate, like the ones in the past. In Kumo, this was actually pretty uncommon to see, most people seemed to live in apartment complexes and other places of that like with their families. Even Jii-chan and I lived in an apartment.

There was even a gate here, which made me think that the clan actually had been in Kumo for years, like with the Uchiha and the Senju for Konoha. That was cool, but I couldn't be certain unless I asked, and I didn't feel like it at the moment. I was still playing cute puppy whom didn't get the treatment she obviously deserved.

We were led past the gate and into a foyer, your everyday garden being the first thing you greet at the moment you come into the house. Excitement buzzed through me at the mention of life. I kicked away from Tamaki and placed my shoes by the door, excited to finally see more green than usual. I pointed out to all the pretty flowers, and the flowing mini river.

"Jii-chan! Look!" I grinned, bouncing around on the soles of my bare feet. I missed Uzushio so much, geez, now I was gonna have to make it a habit of coming here. Yup, just to see this. It was so pretty, even if some of the plants were overgrown and needed trimming and attendance. If they'd let me...I would totally do it, but why would you trust a five year old with such pretty greenery? I wouldn't, five year olds were hell to keep in line. Of course, that wasn't saying much for me.

"Koi, settle down." Jii-chan said with a sigh, he gave me a tender smile that I reciprocated with one of my own. Then we continued to go forth into the estate.

Everything seemed to look more modern once we walked through, it was actually starting to resemble a natural home environment that would've been seen in your everyday manga. Something you probably would see in a more western home environment as well. We walked into the living room, the first room that the door out of the foyer led to. Inside were two little boys playing a game of...why the hell were they playing that lame game? Shogi didn't look very fun. Then again this was coming from someone who never won a game of chess in either of her lives.

"Shuu!" Tamaki yelled, crashing the boys game of intensity. He raced to glomp one of the boys that sat there, the boy had a look mixed with impatience and just being plain irritated. "Has my bro Yuu been treating you nicely? He is kind of good at these games."

"Get off!" The boy - Shuu, I suspected - yelled, kicking at Tamaki to release him. Shuu was about my age, possibly older with dark grey eyes and black hair. He had light skin compared to the other little boy who he had been playing with, though his was a tad bit tanner than my own. His hair was a spiky mess, all ruffled in this adorable rugged way. He was just cute, that's the word I would use to describe him, although the cocky, smug look wasn't. It was irritating as fuck.

"You're lucky, Shuu-kun, if it wasn't for Tama-nii, you would've lost with the next move I was gonna pull." Said the boy I heard was Yuu. He on the other hand looked like a replica of the Yoarashi brothers, dark skin, blonde hair. Except his eyes were a bright blue instead of the dark brown eyes that both Katai and Tamaki shared. This little one was probably their little brother, the one they talked about. He was cute, too. But in his sense he wasn't adorable due to a lame tough appearance, he just simply...was someone who looked like you could hug. And not be hit for doing so.

"Ah, man, seriously? I thought I had you for sure!" Shuu glared at Yuu, a snarl at his mouth. Yup, this guy was definitely un-cute.

I stood there awkwardly, not really knowing what to do or say, I mean I was out of touch with my child loving self. I had only seen one adult for years, and then added only a few others for a few weeks. This was the first I'd seen of someone my age, or well at least physically my age. To say I was scared would be an understatement.

"Oh yeah," Tamaki settled on the floor next to the shogi board. He patted on his lap, beckoning me to come forward. "Kay little guys, this is my new girlfriend, treat her well."

"You pervert." Katai gruffed out, keeping a hand on my shoulder to keep me from walking into Tamaki's trap. It was probably a tickle one, but the comment stopped me anyways.

"Are you a lolicon?" I asked, somewhat amused at the idea.

"What! No, of course not, who taught you that word!?" Tamaki stood again, ignoring the tiny giggles shaking the other boys. I pointed a finger at Katai, who gaped at my accusation.

"I-I did not!" Katai stammered. I laughed.

"I'm kidding, I know it because I heard it around the market somewhere. I've been wondering what it meant."

"Koi, it means that that man is a very bad man and you better stay away from him." Jii-chan cut in, coming to place another protective hand on my free shoulder. I cackled inwardly. Oh, what fun.

"W-what? I'm not a bad man! I just think Koi-chan's cute is all!" Tamaki walked forward. "I take it back! Just be my little sister, a cute little sister that continues to call me, 'onii-san', maybe even 'aniki'! I'm fine with that!" Tamaki amended.

"I already call you brother." I stated. "Tamaki-nii, remember?" He nodded, opening his arms wide.

"Come, Koi." Ahh, the two koi's. It got me every time. In response to his wishes I brushed off the hands from my shoulders and jumped into his arms. He chuckled as he hugged me close. I knew Tamaki wasn't the type to do anything to me, he wouldn't dare touch me in any inappropriate ways.

"You guys done with your drama, yet? Who is this chick?" Came Shuu's voice. Tamaki sat down on one of the floor pillows before letting me settle in his lap.

"This is Sawada Koikan, my new little sister." Tamaki started, beckoning towards me. He motioned to Shuu and Yuu, who both sat with confused expressions, a bit of humor hinting at the small smiles. "And Koi-chan, this is Netsubou Shuunei, my brothers friend. My brother is Yoarashi Yusa." I nodded at this.

"Nice to meet you, Netsubou-kun, Yoarashi-kun." I said formally.

"They're not that much older than you, a mere two years right? Shuu-kun and Yuu are both 7." Katai said, settling next to Tamaki with a Jii-chan at his side. I smiled towards the two boys, yup I was scared out of my mind. Sure, I could talk to adults, but when it came to children I was a lost cause.

"You can call me Yuu, if you want." Yusa said, a polite smile sent my way. I nodded, forming the name in my mouth but before I could say it out loud, Shuunei cut in with a cough.

"But _you_ have to use my last name, I won't let any _girl_ soil my first name." Shuunei said the word girl as if it was the most disgusting thing in this world. I felt a vein in my temple burst. This little dick dare say that?

"Sure, whatever you say," I spoke through clenched teeth, a glare coming to my eyes. "_Shuu-kuuuun_. But you can't use my name either."

Tamaki and Katai both chuckled at my pointed insult. Shuunei glared at me.

"Yeah, yeah, _Koi-chaaan_." He forced out, trying to free the last bit in a futile attempt. I immediately didn't like this guy very much.

Sure, maybe if he kept his mouth shut I would've been fine with the little bitch, but no, he had to be a dick about everything didn't he? Ugh, I wanted to go back to the garden. At least there it would've been nice, even if he had to accompany, because I could've just ignored the little twerp.

Jii-chan grinned at me, as if this was a sure sign of friendship, maybe for him it was. I mean, the Uzumaki did have that weird...whatever relationships. Love hate kind of things going on. But he forgot to notice that there was not love in my heart for this jerk of a boy, no matter how young and stupid he was. Such a thing as youth wouldn't dare excuse his behavior.

"Oh, honey," came a voice from another room, "did you bring your little friends over?" A tall, thin woman came into view as she gave me a pointed look, having never seen me before. She was obviously a Yoarashi woman, long curly white blonde hair with dark eyes and dark skin. "You should've invited Darui-kun over as well." She gave Yuu a look with that and crossed her arms. He nodded, a passive smile shifting to a grimace.

"He's so boring though..." Shuunei murmured. What! Darui? Did I hear Darui? He wasn't boring, he was the cutest thing ever! During the shinobi war he was such a bad ass, even if he had to apologize to be one. From reading the chapters that focused on getting rid of those brothers that ate some of Kurama's insides, I made it a point to say sumimasen every fricken where I went (in my house). Obviously, the guy was a personal Kumo-nin favorite of mine, even if his name meant dull. Of course, B would always be at the top for me.

"Actually, this little cutie I brought home~!" Tamaki said grossly, motioning to me. I resisted the urge to elbow him in the rib cage, if only to say it was on accident.

"Really?" The womans eyes crossed towards Jii-chan, a confused look on her face until she reached her ah-ha moment. "Oh, you're Sawada-san, right?" Jii-chan nodded, a small tight lipped smile sent her way.

"Sorry to intrude on your home." The old man said, giving a slight bow towards the woman.

"Oh, just make yourself at home! Here, I'll bring us treats. By the way, just call me Miwa. I don't want any of that formal, Yoarashi-san, alright? Especially from you, you little cutie." Miwa winked towards my way and walked back into the door she came from.

"Did you tell her we were coming?" I asked, looking towards Tamaki. He nodded, giving me a tiny hug in response.

"How can you be this cute!?" Tamaki crushed me in his arms, wiggling me around like I was some sort of animal. It irked me, but only slightly. After all, being treated as if I was the most cutest thing in the world was a great way to spend the day, although a little sickening. And even though I would never admit it outwardly, I was getting a bit sick and tired of the treatment. It wasn't like I didn't want to be treated like a kid, I mean come on, it was the chance of a lifetime, but I was an adult after all, no matter how impossible that may seem. I was just a childish adult.

After a few seconds of that, I pushed away from Tamaki and instead choose my seat to be Katai, who gave me a curious look but said nothing. Tamaki looked as if I'd stabbed his heart out but I shrugged it off.

"A girl can only take so much, Tamaki-nii." I said to him before settling down in my new place. After a while Miwa came back in with several bowls on a metal tray. She smiled as she passed each treat to everybody. She saved me for last.

"Here, your name is Koi-chan, right?" I nodded, opening my hands to the receive the mystery snack. I was handed a bowl of some sort of handmade frozen treat. I paused. Don't you fucking dare tell me this is what I think it is. "Ice cream."

No. I couldn't believe it! This thing dare come into my life, even when it had it's way with my old one? No fucking way. I was tempted to throw the evil thing on the floor, but once I looked towards the expectant Miwa, I knew I wasn't getting away with that. I discreetly huffed.

"Have you never tried this before? Lame." Shuunei claimed. Ugh I hated that kid. _He_ was the fucking lame one. I glared at him before turning back to the frozen food of horror disguised to look and taste like heaven.

"So, we meet again." I said in my native tongue. "You may have killed me last life, but now we'll get to see who the real prey is." I dove my spoon into the bulge of creamy softness and lifted it to my awaiting mouth. I growled a laugh. Yes! I sighed out the pleasure of getting to enjoy the remains of my arch nemesis. Ice cream, although terrible tasted so good. Trauma dissipated with each scoop. "It's good!" I said in Japanese.

"I'm glad to hear it." Miwa blinked, trying to wrap her head around the nonsense words I spouted to the bowl. She probably thought I cursed it or something.

"What the hell did you just say?" Shuunei asked, his eyebrows drawn to look confused.

"It's Koi's secret language she made up," Jii-chan said, a small grin at the thought, thinking back to when I was even younger, trying to teach him English. "It's very complicated." It's not that it's complicated, just I hadn't had the vocabulary to teach him properly.

"What? That's stupid."

"You're _stupid_, shut the hell up." I retaliated.

"Language!" Miwa shouted, glancing at the two of us. I glared at Shuunei, and he glared right back. "Shuu-kun, don't treat such a cute girl like that, and Koi-chan, ladies must always never stoop as low as a _man_. 'Tis the way of the kunoichi!"

"Woah! Really? Teach me more!" I jumped up, immediately excited and enticed by the thought of kunoichi's. Except I didn't actually jump up, Katai caught me by the legs and pinned me to floor.

"No. No excitement for you."

"Katai-nii is so lame, I'm seriously gonna make you eat your words one day!"

"Whatever, let's see you try, little Usagi."

"Usagi?" I questioned. "What the hell?" Miwa shot me another look. I dipped my head in apology. I sat back down, making a point to sit on Katai's hands that shackled my legs. He pulled away and came to pat the top of my head.

"I'll tell you when you're older." Katai murmured, as if soothing an animal. Again, this irritated me. What the hell was up with this constant touching? Ugh, was I gonna have to get used to this?

"Kata-nii is so weird, what's up with you?" Yuu teased, a dorky grin on his face. And I finally understood the urge, I too wanted to poke the small kids faces and make a game of irritating the shit out of them. Yuu's face seemed poke-able. I looked towards Shuunei to see if his face had the same effect but his was scrunched up in a look of disgust at us. Nope. I just wanted to smack the shit out him. Oh no...was I abusive? I never had this kind of urge towards little kids before. Not once, in fact they were my favorite things. In a sense I was a Tamaki in my past life so this feeling was absolutely new to me. So it must've just been that little rascal. Yup, it was probably just him.

Katai stayed silent while he continued to pet my hair. They were long black strands of course, but they hadn't ever been cut properly or trimmed so my head was a wild mess to say the least. Maybe they all thought me cute. My hair wasn't that crazy, but it did go everywhere.

"Oh, Koi-chan, can I cut your hair?" Miwa asked, standing right behind Katai as if she too took notice. "Wait, Sawada-san, is it alright?" Jii-chan waved his hand in his signature, _whatever_ fashion. The woman jumped up and down. Katai sighed but forfeited his rights over me and handed my body over to the woman as if I was just some rag doll to play with.

"S-sure..." I mumbled into my robes.

"Yes! I've always wanted a daughter!" After that, she whisked me away and I distantly heard the butt head Shuunei sigh out.

"Finally!"

**A/N: **I shouldn't have put so many characters in one chapter.

Sorry I've made so many OC's, but get ready for the next chapter where there will be more!

I forgot to mention the meanings behind Shuu and Yuu's names, Shuunei/執念い means stubborn or persistent, I thought it fit his character and it seems a fad in Kumo is to name their children after names that suit their character, like Darui, Omoi, Samui, and Atsui.

They're all characteristics, or adjectives. Dull, thought, cold, and hot. Also Yuu's name is Yusa/Yuu/優, the kanji can be read both as Yusa and Yuu but it means the same thing, gentle and affectionate. That's his personality for you.


	4. Chapter 4

**雨とアスファルト ****\- Rain and Asphalt**

数えきれないほどの偶然と 数えきれないほどの必然が

An uncountable amount of coincidences and uncountable number of inevitabilities

君と僕の存在を引き裂いて 孤独を分け与えていった

tore our existences apart from each other and replaced it with solitude.

抱えきれないほどの現実げんそうを この手で壊してしまえたら

If these arms of mine ended up destroying this overwhelming reality,

君が僕の感情を切り裂いた言葉も 忘れてしまえるかな

then maybe you'll be able to forget those words which tore my feelings into pieces, too.

抱えきれないほどの現実げんそうを この手で壊してしまっても

Even if these hands of mine could destroy this overwhelming reality,

君が最後にひとつだけくれた言葉だけは 忘れないままで

that one word which you gave to me at the end won't ever be forgotten.

_Words by 40mP_

_Translation by Sunny Subs_

**Disclaimer:** I'm pretty sure you're aware of the fact that I am obviously not Kishimoto, so I don't own Naruto, but I do own my OC's and shizz.

**Warning:** Language.

**A/N: **In this chapter, I feature(I say feature but it's more like a passing inclusion) canon characters to which I don't know their real age, so please don't harp on me if any of them get a set age later on or something.

I had a predicament to deal with.

Jii-chan was being quite insistent that I take up another hobby rather than admire Tamaki and Katai when they trained. It was obvious to me that he didn't want me to lead a life as a kunoichi, even if it was the only damn thing I ever talked about nowadays. The desire was overwhelming, but not for the reasons that you'd think. I'm not sure when the idea formed officially inside my head, maybe it'd always been there, hiding behind what other stupid, impossible thoughts I seemed to possess on a regular basis.

It was a timid thought...an expression I wasn't sure I wanted to take up as a life goal. It was probably just as impossible as my other thoughts. Because this idea was something that would probably take everything I had, every second I lived. It wasn't something to be taken lightly, no it was not to be even considered a fleeting ideology.

But despite knowing that, I still had the drive to achieve such a wild dream.

I wanted...to recreate the old Uzushiogakure, to make it thrive once again but I couldn't do that if Jii-chan was persistent as he ever was with keeping me safe. Well safe was boring and I wish he knew that.

The concept of even rebuilding a lost village was unthinkable, who in their right mind would even try to do that, without any plan of action? This dream of mine...it tore me apart to think about it. If I couldn't do this one thing then this new life would mean nothing if it hadn't been useless already. I realistically had no way to do this, yes I was an Uzumaki, but no I didn't have the knowledge that Jii-chan had...if only he allowed me the right to take his burdens.

I desired so badly to live in his world that he once had, all those stories I'd heard in my past that he'd told me made me fall in love and when I thought about the idea of possiblly forgetting this, because someday I knew I would, I wanted to keep it with me. At least the need to create his world once again would stay with me, even when I grayed.

Maybe if Jii-chan would stop trying to protect me, it'd be different.

**(҂⌣̀_⌣́)**

"Jii-chan, kunoichi's are so cool, aren't they? I want to be just like them when I grow up."

"What happened to wanting to be like me?" The old man laughed, a small light glinting in his eyes with fondness. I shrugged.

"Well I want that, too. But when Miwa-san talks about her time serving as a shinobi, I think about wanting to do the same." I said truthfully, kicking my feet at the water. I was having a bath with Jii-chan, and you'd think I'd grown out of doing that but it was practically the only time I had alone with him aside from at night when we slept in the same futon. I spent my days playing around with Yuu, who turned out to be pretty much a genius and I was quite angry at that. Shuu came a lot, too, but let's ignore the fact that he exists at all.

Again Jii-chan tended to wear robes when he bathed with me, which I now just thought defeated the purpose but at least it cleaned his robes as well. I knew he was just trying to keep me innocent, but it wasn't like he was hiding something that I hadn't seen before, well I'd only seen the ding dong on the internet but whatever. I was sheltered, okay...shut up.

"It's dangerous, Koi. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

"I know." I whispered. "But...even if a shinobi's life is filled with hardships and bloodshed for a cause, I want to learn how to protect something." _I need to protect my dreams, wishes, and even you, _were the unspoken words. I scrubbed at my skin, enough for it to become red as my sponge came away. I squeezed the soapy water out, then placed it back into water.

"Koi, you don't have to do anything, I'll be there to protect you always."

I shook my head of the thought. He wouldn't be there for the rest of my life, he was already old and withering. The thought made my heart seize. No, someday I'd be alone again. Unless I can create that ideology.

"Jii-chan, I don't want that." I looked away from the soapy water and instead placed my blazing orange-yellow eyes to cross over Jii-chan's bright milky ones. "I want to be strong. I want to protect you...it's selfish of me, but I need to become a ninja."

"What reason could you possibly have?" Jii-chan's eyes filled with moisture but you wouldn't be able to tell with the water dripping from both of our faces.

"...I want to...recreate your Uzushiogakure." I murmured, almost too quietly for him to hear as I dipped my chin into the hot water.

Jii-chan was quiet but it wasn't due to shock, it was if the same idea had crossed his mind as well, as if even he had the thought come to mind. Slowly I saw him shift in the water. He brought me in for a hug, and I felt him shaking, as if this scared him. Maybe it did.

"If you must...Koi, would you?" Jii-chan asked, pulling away to look me in the eyes. My eyes blazed again as I nodded vigorously.

"If you let me become a ninja."

He gave a slow nod, his eyes becoming stone as he looked at me again. It would seem he was as serious as I was.

And so this was the knot that tied my fate.

**(҂⌣̀_⌣́)**

I was surprised by how I jumped into the swing of things at the Academy. You'd think I'd join the class full of 5 year olds who were also starting from the beginning, but I wasn't at the beginning. Since I had gone through my schooling with Jii-chan, I was already ahead of my peers and instead landed in a class full of 6-8 year olds. And guess who the fuck was in that class with me?

Yup, you guessed it, the twerp Shuunei. But then again there was Yuu, so I took to ignoring his presence like he was nothing.

I guess I should include who exactly was in my class, at least canon wise. There was Darui, Omoi, and Astui regarding the guys, and for the girls I saw only two, Samui and Karui.

Think I talked to them? Fuck no, I kept my distance, because for all I knew I would screw up something. Not like I had to worry about that, wasn't like I could change some major plot all the way from Kumo, but this did give me an idea for how old I was, or at least how long to wait until canon things started picking up. And you best believe I was going to find a way to use the Naruto plot to my advantage of setting up Uzushiogakure, how I could I didn't know yet but I would find a way. A stubborn Uzumaki always found a way.

"Koi-chan...you're such an idiot but how do you always manage to get better grades than me..." Shuunei complained, looking at the paper we were just handed back.

Because I already knew this stuff. "Because I'm actually a genius, and you are retarded." I replied smoothly as I filled out another worksheet that entailed all the need to knows about chakra. "Hey, you guys haven't even started on chakra control yet, haven't you?"

"I have, but only at home." Yuu replied, giving both of his soft smiles that always accompanied a pat on Shuunei's back.

"I have too, but only because Jii-chan's teaching me how to make chakra chains."

"Chakra chains?" Shuunei asked.

I nodded but bit my lip. Although I'd said before that I could form at least a small chain that was a lie, I only made strings for now, and even doing that wore me out for days. So I took that practice to learning that slowly, even though I knew the basics for what I had to accomplish. Well that and I was still trying to find out just what was missing from my chakra control to mold it into a chain. I could make squiggle lines, or curly rope, but never a chain. To say it was kind of disheartening would be an understatement.

"It's something that gets passed down I guess." To be honest I wasn't sure why Jii-chan wanted to start me off with the chakra chain, but I supposed it was for self defense.

"That sounds disgusting." Shuunei slumped. I resisted another wave of anger. In what way did the chakra chain sound...oh wait, it was rather kinky if you had the mind to think like that. Wait a second! No way! This seven year old was getting way ahead of himself! Or maybe it was me thinking too hard about it. I let it slide without so much as a glance his way.

I began to wonder why I'd even picked these people to hang with in the first place, I was a cute girl, I could definitely make new friends. Nodding to myself I went to turn in the already full page, written in my sloppy shorthand. Jii-chan had went through reteaching me my kana basic kanji, so I wasn't incompetent when it came to writing.

My chuunin teacher took the page from me gratefully and went back to reading whatever book was in her hand. When I turned around to peer at my classroom peers, I caught sight of two in particular that looked...interesting.

You wouldn't normally see twins especially in a world that felt deprived of them, in fact I wouldn't have known if there were any twins in the country, despite the fact that Kishimoto-sensei had a twin himself. There was a lack of them in this world. The only ones I could think of from my backwards knowledge was Hinata's dad and his brother.

Instead of heading back to sit beside Yuu, I made my way towards the twins, which everyone else seemed to be fond of ignoring. Probably because they didn't have a friendly air around them. In fact, if I didn't know that there were essentially no Uchiha here, I would take them as one.

Quite was one word to describe them. As identical twins they both shared long flowing black hair cut to look like one of those...holy shit were they dolls? I mean they looked like those creepy dolls you always see wearing the kimonos and crap. Their eyes were black, there were no colors aside from their eye whites and that soul consuming dark. Even their clothes were reminiscent of those dolls, except they wore black. All black. And holy crap their skin was the most beautiful shade of white. They were so cute! Later on, you'd get they both would be lookers for sure.

I think I found my people.

I was into horror, so to me they began to resemble something from a video game, which I found adorable. Due to this, I sat down besides one of the twins. They both gave me a mute, cursory glance before concentrating on their papers. My eyes canvassed what problem they were on and I couldn't help but smile at their struggles.

"Chakra is made from spiritual and physical energy," I gave away, pressing my finger to one of their papers. The girls glanced at me, a hint of an expression making its way to their dark eyes. Perhaps it was because they were so odd that they attracted my attention, but I was glad they did. "There are five chakra elements..." I droned on, giving them my answers while explaining to them all I knew on the foundation of chakra.

I wanted to pinch their cheeks.

**(҂⌣̀_⌣́)**

"Thanks." The twins said at the same time once they're papers were turned in. I nodded.

"You're welcome. Hey, so my name is Koi."

"We know, you're the only girl in here that can call Netsubou-san by his first name and not get yelled at." One the girls said, pointing out said boy who glared at me as if I'd done some kind of wrong to him. I stuck my tongue out. What, was he some woman hater? Was he gay? That why he didn't like girls? Whatever, I nodded again towards the girls, letting them know I was quite aware of that.

"My name is Acchi." One of the girls said, I noted that the only way to tell the two apart was the air they carried around them. Acchi was the softer one, if that was one way to explain it.

"And I'm Kocchi." Kocchi was gruffer with how she spoke.

Their names. Here and there? Well that's creative, at least it was a twin name.

"Acchi-san, and Kocchi-san. Pft, I like them." I gave them both a hand shake. I was surprised that neither of them struck that fear I had of children, which was a real strike in the list that was needed to qualify as my friend. Oh geez, what were the chances of meeting these two cute twins?

"It's a joke between our mom and dad." Acchi said softly.

"When were were little we used to go everywhere, our parents never knew where to find us." Kocchi laughed, breaking that doll like idea I had of her.

"We were here, and then we were there." Acchi smiled, and it made her seem even more of a doll. It wasn't creepy, just cute. And I wanted to poke her in the face.

"My names Koi because supposedly my mom wanted to live a life with passion. Or at least that's what Jii-chan tells me." I blushed at the thought, I kind of missed my mom. How? I just did. Even if I only met her once and just for a few minutes. But her bodies warmth and coldness was something I couldn't forget.

"Oh, you live with your Jii-chan?" Acchi pondered. "What about your parents?"

"It's only Jii-chan, I never met my dad, but my mom died shortly after I was born."

"Oh." Acchi finished, her face another stoic expression of concern, as if she might've offended me. Though it wasn't uncommon to be an orphan in this world, people still didn't know how to react to that idea.

"Ma," I waved my hand. "so what are we doing for lunch?"

"W-we?" Kocchi asked as if surprised by the assumption that I included myself into their two person circle.

"Yup, cause lunch is in a couple minutes and I'm starved." I shifted closer to the girls. "Hey, why don't you join me?" I nodded, clearly not leaving any room for arguments. Both girls gulped at this. I guess this was a first for them.

Well the same could be said for me.

**(҂⌣̀_⌣́)**

I learned quickly enough that the twins were the victims of bullying, since they didn't have that _Kumo_ look, well it turns out it's the same thing for me. The three of us together though looked more Konoha-esque than anything else, which didn't bother me, but it seemed to bother the girls. Acchi said that it was because her family had come from the water country that they looked foreign, and of course I shared that it was the same for me. Besides, they wanted to be Kumo-nin, meaning they were very loyal to their country.

Supposedly, the only reason I hadn't had to deal with any big mean bully picking on me was because I had hung out with Yuu and Shuunei, now that I didn't though, I was fair game. Sure I played with them at Yuu's house, but that was only when I wanted to hang with Tamaki or Katai. Nowadays, I'd taken to playing around with Acchi and Kocchi.

The three of us had to fight our way through the Academy, well not literally, we had a few people that we had to deal with. I was waiting to deal with them alone though, because I already had an idea of how I would take them bastards out.

Not kill them! Geez, I wasn't that crazy.

"Ew, it's mold." One of the boys that seemed to enjoy this kind of approach to a lady said. I grinned at Acchi, who stood with me while we waited for Kocchi to get out of the bathroom. I guess the mold part of that insult was because mold sometimes looked black and white to the kid?

"Hear that, Acchi-chi? Seems as a trio we're mold." I cackled as Kocchi came to stand besides us. She gave me a glance before settling on the fact that I was just being weird again. "Come on, we have one more set of katas to do."

That was basically the minimum amount of harshness we received. Name calling. Poking fun. Silly stuff like that. Of course a girl could only take so much until she cracked.

It was on a certain day where both twins were out sick with some kind of stomach sickness. I don't know how they got sick, but the little stunt that the little assholes pulled on me kind of made me put two and two together. They waited until I was all packed up and ready to go home. I said a brief farewell to Yuu as I left the back slide door of the academy to walk through the only training field with grass. Because it was raining a lot more than usual, I decided to slip off my sandals when I took a step through the dewy path.

As I walked, I scarcely heard the sound of a snicker, but I ignored it and kept walking. That was obviously the wrong choice because right as soon as I took a few more steps after that I was engulfed with a salty sweet smell. Tomatoes. Before I could react to a slight crunch on the ground, I was swamped with a bucket filled with crushed tomatoes all dripping down every part of my skin. I swung an angry eye towards my assailant. Who dared to make me_ Carrie_?

Two boys I knew to be the worst of the bullies cackled, landing on their asses as they gazed up at me with innocent expressions. Oh, there was that urge again. The urge to punish.

Stepping towards the pair calmly, the two stilled if only to see if I was running, or better yet crying. No I didn't even shed a tear as I approached the kids. Without thinking, I materialized my chains, a glint of pride shining as they managed to form into solid chains. It glowed a positively nice aura for a change, rather than that regular burst of blue it made. That's it? That's all I needed to make a chakra chain? It was a burst of emotion? Interesting...

I guess it made sense, Naruto as able to use the chakra chains with his desire, Kushina with the idea she'd protect the village by chaining the fox, and Karin when she felt Sasuke's chakra fizzle.

I snaked the chains towards the boys and let it curl around their bodies. To me they were quiet as I concentrated on moving the chains. In reality they were screaming when I led them through a rocky mountain range that sat right next the academy. I laughed like a mad woman once I thought of the perfect place to take them. I kept the chains tight around them as I heaved them through the village. There was a hot springs just up ahead and I was really needing a bath, and I knew the routes to get in without anybody noticing. Yes I did it often with Acchi and Kocchi, sneaking into places for free things. Like a free bath.

When I came close enough I found the right place of entry. The boys screamed as I slung them over the wooden fence keeping the men's and women's sides apart. Where I threw them? The women's side of course. They're continued screams mixed with others answered my grin as I rid myself of the chains, settling to walk back home for my bath.

**(҂⌣̀_⌣́)**

I came to the academy the next day expecting to find two boys still persisting in their hatred for my differences. Instead I got groupies.

Acchi and Kocchi were both back, too, and instead of their usual treatment they were regarded with interest.

"Koicchi." Acchi glanced at me warily, keeping her whisper low as the teacher filed out random assessments that we'd finished, passing us back our grades.

"What, Acchi-chi?" My eyes passed over the 100's I'd received, having memories from a past life really did help now that I thought about it. Usually in math I'd be dead last, but here? I was the top female student(academically), well tied with Acchi and Kocchi as we did every assessment together.

"What did you do to those boys?" Kocchi pressed on, cutting in between me and Acchi. She pointed out said boys and I turned to see the same assholes that had dumped tomato sauce all over me sit in their desks, giving me several glances every few seconds. When they became aware that I knew they were looking, both kids blushed and looked away with shy expressions.

Wait...

"Nothing much, I chained them up and threw them in some hot water. From the looks of it, it should've been cold." I clicked my tongue in disapproval. I didn't like this development. They were acting like a couple of embarrassed school girls, glancing at their handsome crush. For a moment, a picture of me as some hot guy and them as some girly girls fawning over me appeared. I shook my head of the thought, a disgusted feeling filling me. "They need to calm down."

"Why? Oh...let me guess..." Acchi started.

"They threw stuff all over you?" Kocchi finished.

"We got...ugh...we got moldy food." Acchi cringed at the thought. "It's why we've been out sick."

"Maybe they ran out of moldy food, because I got tomato sauce." I told them, then clicked my tongue again as I registered the fact they had been attacked when I wasn't looking. "I figured that..." I gave the boys a glare and instead of squeaking with fear they squeaked for a completely different reason. "Holy shit I think they might be into BDSM."

"BD..what?" Kocchi asked. I waved her off, ugh, no way...did I seriously make that big of a mistake? I was five! Why!? This was completely inappropriate for someone my age to deal with. Inappropriate for people of their ages, too. What was worse, I didn't even know their names.

I took a deep breath, nope, I wasn't even going to think about it. Not even a little bit. I would ignore their existences just as easily as I did Shuunei's.

The twins giggled creepily while giving the boys glances of their own, scare tactics we'd come up with in private.

Good, at least these two were on my side.

**(҂⌣̀_⌣́)**

'Tis was a boring day and the heat of Kumo was finally getting to me.

It was the weekend, meaning no academy for me so I had at first opted to spend it training, but then I also wanted to hang out with Yuu while wanting to be with Acchi and Kocchi. Hmm...

I saluted Jii-chan when I went out the door, a bright smile on my face at the decision I had come to. I headed first to the twins house. I'd been there several times before, of course Jii-chan had come with me the first time but after that he spent his time working in his tiny office. While in Kumo he was preparing to open up a seals shop, which would become a thing in month once some official people came to meddle or something. Honestly I didn't care about that, only the fact that Jii-chan was doing what he wanted to do and that made me happy.

I knocked on their apartment building door and was surprised when Acchi had opened the door only on the first knock. She gave me a tight lipped smile and a quick hug, inviting me inside with silence.

"Oi, Acchi-chi, I was thinking we cou...ld..." I paused once I saw the reason for such an odd greeting. "Okay."

Kocchi sat in the middle of their living room with a look of concentration, ditching the stoic appearance for a complete swap of expression. On the ground with her was her father, keeping her stuck in a cradles hold. Kocchi looked about ready to have a fit.

"What did she do this time?" My arms sat lazily at my sides.

"Poison his food." Acchi said, her voice flat.

"It was on accident! I was trying to immunize myself so I made that udon for myself!"

"And I ate it." Her father said, keeping her still in his arms. "Now apologize."

"Why? You seem fine now!" Ah, I loved seeing a flustered Kocchi. The twins were into poisons, I didn't know why but it seemed to suit them so I didn't question it one bit. Plus they tended to poison my food as well, saying it was to get me used to it. Ah, they were adorable.

"Apologize." Acchi groaned. She turned her head to me. "We were going to meet you so we could ask you something, but you're here now so want to train together?"

"Hehe, I was about to ask you the same thing." I said, turning to look at Acchi. She smiled, this time not at all pressed.

"Fine, fine! I give! Sorry you ate my udon." I turned back from Acchi to see that Kocchi was heaving her father up, kicking him from her so she could get out of his reach. Once she was free she ran to the opened door and dashed out of the apartment complex. "Come on!" She called back to us. Me and Acchi shared a glance before we complied.

We ran down flights of stairs until we reached the building's door but we weren't loose yet. The twins father raced down after us, intent on getting some sort of apology. We should've known that it wouldn't be the end to this tirade. Just like the twins their dad looked like a doll, but only in the creepy, pale dark guy that's just really fricken scary. I should've known the first time around that he was the epitome of what it meant to be horror scary, the girls had nothing on him. And as for their mother? I hadn't met her yet, she'd been out on missions for the past few months. But I was ready for a surprise!

"Kocchi! Get back here!" Her father yelled, stepping past a pair of mothers carrying newborn babies. They grouched but continued their way up the stairs. Kocchi kept running.

"Okay guys, let's think of this as a training exercise! Evasion techniques!" Kocchi cheered, preparing to leap off a building I hadn't managed to see her climb. She lifted her fists into the air. Ah, she was so cute.

"Right!" Both me and Acchi cried as we trailed after her.

"I have an idea, let's head over to the Yoarashi compound. I have friends there who'll definitely protect us!" I said to Kocchi once I drew close enough to her to say without worry that her rampaging father might hear. Acchi flew by us, and I couldn't help the jealousy that formed within me. Acchi was one of those people that all though incompetent in school work was so physical with her things that she was a fast learner for almost anything physical. I was just lucky that Kocchi was like me in that we both were pretty good with physical portions of school but dominated when it came to smarts. Ha!

"Ah, to Yusa-kun's place?" Kocchi guessed. I nodded. Although this hadn't gone as planned, or as normally as I'd probably liked, we were still getting to the part where we could all train together. Yes! I was excited to tell the truth. Even though I'd been training to become a shinobi for a few weeks as it was, I hadn't actually trained one bit aside from morning and afternoon practices with Jii-chan, but that was only with my chakra control so I wasn't practicing any of my taijutsu. And I needed the practice.

When I spent time with Kocchi and Acchi we usually just messed around the village, scaring people and tricking citizens into thinking their stores were haunted with a pair of dead twins and a little toddler girl. We sure made a name for ourselves. Ahhh, good times. The twins were fun.

So we headed to the Yoarashi place, intent on fleeing from the big bad wolf that was the twins dads. Since the clan was rather famous in this village we all knew where it was so there was no problem with giving directions, so as we ran we used all the distraction techniques we'd learned in school. Who knew paying attention could get you so far? I didn't.

We dashed through rooftops, and as always, I got a kick out it. I bounced with the fleeting feelings of happiness, there was nothing that could stop me when I was in motion, or at least that was what it always felt like to me. In my old life, jumping across roof after roof would've been impossible, I'd die of fright. It was something way out of my comfort zone, especially with how much of a born coward I was. I used to pretend I was strong, road on the roller coasters with my cousins when we went out to amusement parks, all the while scratching my arms to the point they bled when I went on any crazy rides. There, I would've cried myself to sleep than ever attempt to jump off a roof.

Here?

This body was bursting with energy! I had it in me to ride the high of life, besides there was nothing to fear when jumping a roof in this world hadn't killed anyone yet. Well, for all I knew there was someone but that didn't matter much. What did matter was the thrill I felt as my feet pounded down on the tiled roofing, bouncing and hopping as I went. I felt like Mary Poppins sometimes.

I wasn't a coward in this life.

We were finally able to catch our breath once we felt their dad loose us. He wasn't as energetic as a couple of girls in training, obviously. Either that or he just didn't care anymore. It was probably the latter.

All three of us walked to the gates of the Yoarashi compound and let ourselves in, didn't even bother sneaking in through the back, even though the twins were god at that. So we kept going to the front door of Yuu's house and again, let ourselves in. Well more like I pushed the girls in, wasn't like the Yoarashi clan cared if I popped in uninvited. Miwa had taken to calling me daughter anyways.

"Miwa-san!" I called as I walked in, having left my shoes at the garden.

"Koi-chan?" I heard being called from inside the kitchen. I walked towards the door from the living room that would lead into the kitchen and pressed it open, waving the twins over as I went. They followed, biting their lips as we walked. Nervous twins were cute, too.

"Ah, imouto-chan!" I was tackled with a hug as I was brought up into the air by strong arms. I looked up to the see the face of Tamaki smiling as if he was in heaven with magic flowers and pink dust sprinkling around his exterior. He began to pet my hair as he sighed out.

"Tama-nii, let go of poor Koi-chan." Yuu said just past Tamaki. I looked around to find Shuu and Yuu's mother at the island cutting veggies up. Aw, that was adorable. Cute little bad tempered boy cooking? I would be laughing right at the moment if it weren't for the cheek rubbing I was getting from Tamaki.

"Let go!" I cried out, kicking my feet out to connect with Tamaki's body. He reacted as if the contact didn't even phase him. Probably hadn't, he was jounin after all.

"Just a second, I've been deprived of my cute little Usagi-chan!"

"Usagi? I'm not an animal! I'm a growing little girl!" I kicked some more, but it was helpless. Well until my best friends in this entire world pulled out their cute creepy plea to get me back.

"What are you doing with _our_ Usagi-chi?" Acchi and Kocchi said at the same time, clapping hands together and showing off a stoic face. My eyes glistened when I saw the beauty that the two of them possessed.

Tamaki paused, set me down and stared at the two girls for a moment before a blush broke out over his face.

"So cute! I'm dying of cuteness!" He clutched at his heart and fell sideways, grabbing at the counter before slipping to the floor with wracked laughter.

"No you aren't!" Shuunei screeched out, finally eyes on us. "Ugh, get these girls out! We don't have enough food for you, leave!"

"How dare you, Shuu-kun!" Miwa cried out, hands coming to rest on his shoulders. "Don't say that to girls. They are the magical beings that give off sparkles and beauty. Welcome cute girls! Come one come all! I will make snacks for you!" Miwa went back to the dishes she was preparing, singing songs about cute girls finally coming to play.

I think she was probably deprived of girls, as she had no daughters so that may have affected how she acted towards us.

"What are you guys doing here?" Yuu asked, coming up to replace Tamaki's position in front of us. The older man was passed out on the floor by now, mumbling about the same things his mom was obsessing about. They were both deprived.

"Running away from a scary beast." Kocchi proclaimed, her shoulders shaking as she remembered the torture that had befell her.

"Not just that, training!" I called out. "Let's train! Yes! Youth! The fists of youth shall guide us through our training!" And now I was Guy.

"How annoying," Shuunei murmured, he was silenced from a glare coming from Miwa. "Fine, fine. I'll train with you stupid girls. You'll need a man anyways."

"I don't want to train with you, _aho_-kun." I stuck my tongue out at said idiot and crossed my arms, until Miwa gave me a glare, too.

"Whatever, _Usagi_-chan." Shuunei grumbled.

"Yes! Let's train, as you say Koi, let's let youth be our guide." Yuu clapped his hands together as if this was going to be the funnest thing ever and tipped his head to the side.

Maybe this had been a mistake?

**A/N:** Regarding Acchi and Kocchi's names, it means here and there. (Actually, 彼方と此方で/Acchi to kocchi de means that but whatever)

彼方 - Acchi/Kanata - Here; that way; over there; yonder

此方 - Kocchi/Konata - There; this way; this direction; here

I could've used either romanizations but I was lazy so I picked the prior.

Shuu's character...um, I honestly didn't mean to make him a woman hating chauvinistic pig. I swear, he just...came out that way. I don't know what I'm doing half the time. I'm sorry.

Anyways, that's it! Bye. Please review if you can! Much appreciated!


	5. Chapter 5

**アリカリ成人 ****\- Alkaline Adult**

泣くなくなく僕らは泣いて 自分自身の弱さを知るんだ

Without not crying we'll weep, and realize our own weaknesses.

進みたいのに進めなくても 信号は直ぐに変わるさ

Even if we want to go forward but can't, the light will change immediately.

カクカクカクとやかく言った くるくるくるぐるぐる回って

Yadda, yadda, yadda, they said all kinds of things, 'round and 'round, winding, winding, spinning.

生きる意味が分からなくなったら この場所に帰って来てよ

When the meaning of life looks unclear, come back to this place.

ねぇ歌が聞こえるかい歌が そう、これは死んじゃう前に

Hey, can you hear this song, this song? Right, before I die,

世界に残してく歌だ 君が伝えた歌だ。

this is the song I'll leave to this world, this is the song that you taught me.

僕が愛した歌だ

This is the song I loved.

_Words by TadanoCo/__ただの__Co_

_Translation by zcatcracker_

**Disclaimer:** Naruto is not owned by me.

**Warning:** Language

Yuu readied his stances, ready to take on both of the twins at the same time. Except, he didn't even realize that it was I who was going to go in for the kill. I was also ready, sitting at the bottom of a mountain, hidden behind the shade of looming rocks.

Shuunei was nowhere to be found, but I couldn't care less about that guy. He was probably some weak ass pansy anyways. I wouldn't know, I never paid any attention to the guy.

We'd moved to the Yoarashi fields, which were well tended towards.

Since this was Kumo and not Konoha, nor Uzushio, the practice fields were comprised of dangerous rock formations and cloud coverage for hiding. There were flat grounds used to openly fight, which is where the twins and Yuu were all at, and then there was Shuunei and I. We made a sort of game out of this, girls against boys. The twins fought as one, tied together by the ankle while Yuu tried to get the girls to surrender, it was the back up team's job to make sure our partners won. Obviously Yuu's partner was Shuunei, while I had the luck of having the back of my cute friends.

I slunk around the darkness of the mountain and cloud coverage, trying to open myself to sense others chakra. I wasn't the sensor type, not one bit. I was the average ninja when it came to ninja techniques after all, I was average at genjutsu, average at taijutsu, average at ninjutsu and probably all the other jutsu's besides fuinjutsu. Even kenjutsu when you just swung a sword around I was average at! Not that I minded or anything, though. I was pretty happy with what I had, sure everything else about me was perfectly, painfully average but when it came to making seals, I was bomb at it. I'd always had a good eye for calligraphy, and that's practically all fuinjutsu seals required. That and everything else it needed, but whatever. I was good for something!

When the sun dipped behind a cloud, immediately I shot out from behind the rocks, ready to have my friends backs when something hit me from the side. I gasped at the impact as I skidded on the ground. I was lucky to be wearing some sturdy clothing, less they'd have ended up all shredded at my arms and knees. Plus, I'd have bled from the rocks on the ground. My limbs stung as I stood upright, hand on my left arm. I looked up to see Shuunei dance with a grin on his face at my look of disbelief. That bastard!

Chains materialized around me and shot for the little twerp, but they couldn't go that far to reach him. He snickered and ran back for coverage. With a sigh, I let the chakra settle and dissipate. So he wanted to play rough? We'd play rough.

My fingers grazed at the stinging skin, a frown playing across my slight face. Kumo wasn't that nice when it came to padding on the ground, grass would've been better but oh well. Or maybe it wouldn't be? The blades of grass could cut my skin, but what would be better? I was curious now, and would have to test this later.

But anyways it wasn't like I could help where I landed.

I urged chakra to my feet, kicking off from the ground in search of the dumb ass. Moving around in Kumo got progressively easier as time went on, even though at first I could hardly stand on a group of rocks without losing my balance.

I found Shuunei standing around a small rock formation, it looked like there was a cave, deep and dark. Above the cave entrance was this long looming boulder, perfect to hide inside. I didn't like it. He sat laughing, probably at the fact that he managed to hit me before I could see it. Ugh, what a cocky bastard. Then again, I was just as cocky, and just as prideful.

Before he saw me, I dove in, my legs aiming for the back of his neck. Upon impact he fell over, coughing and rolling around on the ground.

"That's for being a dick." I said, coming down to crouch besides him. He glared at me, hand pressed to the back of his neck. "That should teach you not to mess with a girl." I said sweetly.

"B..." He started while wheezing out the word. "bitch!"

"I'm not a bitch! You're the asshole!" I growled, kicking at his side. There was no real force behind my legs so it wasn't like I was hurting him any. Not that I knew of anyways, I was pretty bad with gauging my strength.

"I am not! You could've killed me!" He looked at me with wide eyes dipped with menace. It could have been cute if I weren't so mad at the guy. Well, actually it was still pretty cute but that didn't matter!

"And you could've killed me too!" I returned, flashing around my scraped arms.

"Then I should have!"

"Oh bite me!" I growled out, a sneer on my lips. He looked at my face, apparently his fit done.

Then he nodded, grabbed my wrist and bit. Hard. I yowled before punching him right in the face.

"That fucking hurt!"

"You told me to bite you." He grinned, I hit him again.

"I didn't mean for you to really bite me!" Seven year olds are disgusting creatures. Who knew what kinds of diseases he had in his mouth!

"...That's weird." Shuunei grumbled, rubbing at his neck. I cradled my poor wrist, feeling disgust boil within me. 10 baths...no 15, I'd need to take 15 baths to disinfect. Yup, that should be enough. Maybe it wouldn't though, the bite was red and angry looking. Why had he bitten me so hard? He had bitten so hard that it had hurt a lot more than it probably should have. When it came to pain, I didn't feel it often, maybe because I could ignore it but with this really did hurt.

"What's weird?" I cringed at the sight of his bite mark. I hoped it would fad, it better have faded by the time the day was over. I remember getting bit when I was little in my last life, it hurt but the bite marks faded away after some time, right? Haha, yup, surely it'd go away. My vision blurred slightly as I clutched at my wrist. Yup, it'd go away.

"I doesn't hurt anymore." Shuunei said, rubbing at his neck in confusion. My vision blurred as I tried to focus on his stupid face.

I paused at the words, then glared at the kid while everything started to sway around me. "Well my wrist sure fucking hurts." I grumbled out, my eyes drooping when I looked back at the angry red mark on my skin. I suddenly felt really sleepy, and I was a grouch when I needed my sleep. Without thinking, I fell over into a warm pillow, a soft sigh left me as I settled on top of it.

"Wait, Koi-chan..." Shuunei whispered. I felt someone shaking at my shoulders but I didn't feel the need to comply. Yup...I just needed sleep was all. "Koi-chan, this place isn't stable. Koi! Wake up! What are you doing sleeping on me, you weirdo!"

A small laugh bubbled from my open mouth. "What...ever..."

"Koi, seriously! You need to..." Shuunei's words all blended together, sounding urgent but at the same time unimportant.

And just like a cookie, things crumbled.

ಥ‿ಥ

I awoke to darkness.

Now, let me tell you something about the dark.

It scared the shit out of me, I think I made that clear before as well. It made me hyperventilate, gave me nightmares, and let's just say we've never been friends. Ever. Sure, I had to sleep in the dark plenty of times, but that was only when I was with Jii-chan, and with him nothing scared me. He was my teddy bear after all.

I gave a nervous laugh, it would be fine right? Everything would be absolutely fine. Aside from the fact I couldn't see anything! I moved my hands around, hoping to get an idea of just where the heck I went to bed, and why of all places I would. I pressed my hands around but found nothing but a hard wall around me and no light switch to be found. It was at that moment I wished my chakra nature was fire and not wind. It would've been way more helpful than this!

"Koi-chan." I heard a voice growl out. "You choose now to wake up?"

"Shuu-kun!" So that was the padding I felt under me. "Haha, what are you doing here?" I gave nervously, hands moving to press against what I hoped to be his chest. I tried to move off him but couldn't, something blocked my way.

"I've already tried to get you off, think I enjoy having a bitch like you on me?"

"Shuu-kun, you perv..." I giggled nervously. "I'd hit you right now but I'm still a little tired..." I wasn't tired, I was wide awake with fear.

"This is all your fault. So really it should be me hitting you!" A rock crumbled down. I froze.

"Haha...yeah, about that, where are we exactly?"

"You don't remember how you refused to wake up when I told you that this place wasn't safe?"

"I guess not." I mumbled. "But it's your fault, too. You hid in this area didn't you? So ha!"

"Koi-chan..."

"What?"

"Shut up."

I sighed but slumped against him. I didn't like this one bit. I fidgeted, growing anxious as each second passed. How long had we been in here? Where people looking for us? What if we died here?

Oh god.

I didn't want to die with this ass hole, absolutely not! I needed to live so I could do something with this second chance! I wasn't sure whether this whole reincarnation was an ordinary thing, but I

wasn't giving up the fact that I'd already missed my chance the first time to live a positive life.

"Shuu-kun..." I found myself whispering. "I hate you so much right now."

"Good, because I hate you, too. Now shut up, you're annoying."

I continued to fidget. I was so nervous and scared, especially with the dark looming around me. It made it hard to breath with how scared I was.

_There's nothing there. There's nothing there._ I repeated internally, finding wetness pile at the base of my eyelids. Ugh, this was the worst feeling ever. I didn't like being trapped, no one did really. I didn't like the dark, which was stupid of me but I couldn't help my fear. It was irrational, but I knew I hated it.

"Quit it." Shuunei commanded. My head began to fill with even more thoughts of doom and gloom, and I began to shake again. The fear kept me awake this time, and Shuunei was definitely not being helpful. I couldn't just stop this irrational fear, it was_ irrational_ for a fricken reason. "Wait...are you afraid of the dark?"

"N-no!" I tried out. "I'm just...cold."

"This place is making me sweat and you think it's cold." Shuunei chuckled. "Yeah, right. You're such a liar."

"At least I'm not a woman hater like you." I shot back.

"Hey! I don't hate women, I just...don't like them."

"That's the same thing!"

"No it isn't! It's just a fear!"

There was a pause before my outburst of giggles set in. "You...Netsubou Shuunei, are afraid of women?" I choked out, finding that the moisture at my eyes intensified as I chuckled.

"N-no!"

"Ha! I now have something to lord over you 'til the day you die!"

"Whatever, you, Sawada Koikan, are afraid of the dark. This I can lord over you too, and I'm pretty sure you'll die before me. So it's my win." Shuunei shot back.

"Only in your dreams." I returned. "You're so lame."

"You're weird."

It certainly was strange, even though I knew for sure Shuunei wasn't trying to do it, he was comforting me. It was...an odd feeling to be comforted by an enemy. Very odd indeed. My breath came evenly now, and I no longer felt like the world was coming apart just because I was in the dark.

"You're a whole lot more weirder than I am, so shut up." I murmured, my fidgeting having stopped. "Wait, how long have we been in here?"

"It's a guess, but I think an hour or so."

"I'm kind of angry now."

"Why?"

"When will those damned people notice and rescue us..." I mumbled into Shuunei's chest. Ugh, this would've been so awesome if it wasn't Shuunei. And I wasn't five. At that, I grew even more impatient. No! I wanted out! "I swear to-"

"Koi-chan?"

"What?"

"Just shut up."

Fine.

ಥ‿ಥ

**Kocchi - 3rd Person POV**

It'd been a few hours and yet still there was no sign of her poor Koi-chi.

Kocchi was getting impatient, this was her best friend after all! To think she'd go missing with...ugh, Shuunei. Everyone knew just how much the two hated each other, sure they both called each other by their first names but they did it entirely out of spite and they mostly said it with distaste or annoyance. It was quite funny to watch them though, especially when they were both so comical.

Sure, Kocchi might have not liked to outwardly admit it, but she found them to be a cute pair, if only they'd both shut up and talk out their differences. Of course, that'd happen when the stars aligned and the world ended. Maybe even then it'd be hard for them to become friends. So the two were stuck being a bunch of sourpusses to one another. And for that, Kocchi was glad.

"I'm worried..." Acchi sighed out as they combed the streets of Kumo together. It had been just the two of them for so long...until one day Koi reached for them. For that, both of the twins had agreed they were extremely happy for this to have occurred. Since the both of them were quite territorial though, they tended to shoo away any unwanted possible friends of the girl. They didn't like when people got in the way of their doting for the other girl.

"So am I." Kocchi agreed, her eyebrows knitting together. It was getting dark as the sun dipped behind the clouds once again, but soon it'd be night and the twins both knew how much Koi hated the dark. When they walked the streets alone at night, they'd found that Koi would freeze up, and only be able to walk once both girls were situated on both of her sides and she was holding a hand in both of hers. It was an irrational fear, but that was Koi, she was anything but rational at times. "Maybe they're back at the training grounds?"

"Yeah...didn't you hear that loud crash though? What if they were there!" Acchi back pedaled as she hit the rooftop. Kocchi slid in beside her. Yeah, she had heard it, and it was worrying to think that they could've...no. Kocchi couldn't think like that.

"Let's head that way."

A few minutes later they stood at the base of a rock slide. It must've happened spontaneously, maybe neither of them knew what the heck had been going on.

"Well...let's get digging." Kocchi sighed out.

"I'll go get Yuu-kun and his brothers..." Acchi dashed out. Everyone had gone on a search for the stupid duo, and they'd all checked in area's that only Koi or Shuunei would have gone to ditch out of training, even though Kocchi was sure Koi wasn't that kind of person. She wasn't an actual idiot, she was just an innocent person so of course someone like her would find ditching to be some kind of felony.

Kocchi got down on her knees, and pebble after rock dug for the sake of her best friend.

By the time everyone returned to help out, she'd gone through most of the rocks, only to find out that she hadn't even had to do that. They had brought back Shuunei's uncle, a shinobi named Dodai, to do the job. He had an earth based chakra affinity so all he needed to do was move the rocks away. It irritated Kocchi that all her hard work had been for practically nothing.

She stared at Shuunei's uncle, a glare at her eyes. "Gah!" She slapped her palms to her sides and walked away, she was so irritated.

They all took steps away and waited for Dodai to get to work. He made a few hand signs and the rocks moved and shifted to the sides.

At what she saw, Kocchi's anger dissipated as she looked upon the view of her friend and her friends enemy. There, a picture of cuteness, laid Koi and Shuunei sleeping together underneath the rubble of the rock slide. Kocchi gave a sigh of relief right after her short snicker.

"Woah." Acchi and Yuu said at the same time. Kocchi burst into giggles at the sight, something she was definitely going to relentlessly tease Koi about when she woke up.

Ah, it would be priceless.

ಥ‿ಥ

I peered my eyes open to see what the hell was going on.

Then I jumped once my eyes settled upon the sight of all my friends, their eyes bulging and their bodies rocking with laughter. Then I saw a familiar unfamiliar face, a passive expression on the mans face. He looked hard at Shuunei, who had managed to wake from the noises as I had. It was dark outside, but thankfully not as dark as it had been. I stood, finding that I couldn't balance myself all that well. I soon fell right after I stood, just to sit back on Shuunei. He glared at me before realizing it had been a mistake.

"Shuu-kun, this is all your fault." I murmured, feeling my cheeks. They felt hot but that could've just been because we'd been underneath rocks for so long. I looked back at the bite on my wrist, hoping it'd faded away just as I'd thought but instead saw the stupid angry mark stare right back at my woozy self. Ugh, I was so god damned tired.

"Koi-chan, you don't look so good..." Tamaki said, snapping out of whatever shock he had placed on him. He took a few steps to come and pick me up.

"I think Shuu-kun's rabid. He bit me." I told him, flashing the bite mark for him to see. He caught my wrist in his hands. "Am I foaming at the mouth yet?"

"What did you do to Koi-chi?" I heard Kocchi brusquely approach Shuunei, she was ignored as the familiar unfamiliar person came to stand before the nervous Shuunei. He bit at his lip.

"Shuunei, I didn't know you had yourself a little girlfriend." The man said, breaking into a tiny grin. Shuunei's cheeks brightened to look like flames. Yup, he was definitely rabid.

"What? N-no! I don't!" He protested as the man picked Shuunei up into his arms. "Oji-san!"

This was his uncle?

"Take Shuu-kun home, Dodai-san." Katai told Dodai, who nodded and set off.

Ah! Dodai! He was the guy who instructed B to form the Double Lariat with the Raikage! Shuunei was related to him...? It didn't make any sense to me.

"This looks like it hurts, want me to treat it or do you want to go home? You look tired." Tamaki said once he was done examining my wrist.

"Home." I muttered, slumping in Tamaki's arms. He seemed to bubble at my tired self, roses and sparkles seeming to appear immediately out of thin air.

"So cute!" Tamaki squeezed me in his arms, giving a slight squeal of joy before Kocchi hit him on the back.

"That's mine!" She told him directly, her dark eyes blazing.

"Kocchi-chan you're so overprotective, it's so cute!"

"The hell it is! Let go of her! Let someone who doesn't have ulterior motives carry her!" She pointed to Katai who gave us all blank looks then shrugged, walking closer to take me into his arms. Tamaki stood dejected.

"Well, it was fun today. We should do it again sometime, kay, Acchi-chan?" Yuu told Acchi, smiling at her in this gentle way. She grinned back at him, nodding her head.

"Yeah, Yuu-kun!" Acchi replied. "But of course, we'll have to keep an eye on our wards, now won't we?"

"I suppose we will."

Finally understanding just the hell they were saying I struggled to get out of Katai's arms. "I'm no ones ward!"

"Oh but you are, Usagi-chan."

"Gah, whatever! Just get me home!"

**A/N: **I really like Shuunei...I don't know why.

Anyways~ thanks for reading, I'd be extremely grateful if you'd review! Also thank you very much for all the support so far! I'm so happy


	6. Chapter 6

**ミサイルキラー ****\- Missile Killer**

ああ、強くて弱い私に

Ah, I'm strong but also weak,

振り向いて答えてよ

turn to me and answer me.

あの、ねぇねぇねぇねぇ

Uh, hey, hey, hey, hey

心をどうやって変えよっか

How should I try to change a heart?

泣き疲れたから歩くよ

Bawling my eyes has left me spent, so lets walk.

帰れる

We can go back.

かい かい もういいかい？

Can we? Can we? Can we now?

ねぇねぇねぇねぇ

Hey, hey, hey, hey,

ミサイルどうやって壊そっか

how should we smash up the missiles?

あの、ねぇねぇねぇねぇねぇねぇ！▽

Uh, hey, hey, hey, hey x(a whole crap ton of hey's)

最強兵器のマシンが無くてもきっと

Even if I'm missing my ultimate weapon machine,

変らない気持ち壊せるさ

I know I can still shatter unchanging feelings.

また明日。

See you tomorrow.

_Words by TadanoCo_

_Translation by zcatcracker_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

**Warning:** Language.

_"You let the kid bite you?" Jii-chan asked, a bright smile on his lips. He had just gotten finished with laughing at the story Tamaki had told him. Trader, he was a trader! He's lucky he left as soon as he explained things. _

_"No! He just went and bit me." I grumbled as Jii-chan rubbed some cream on my scrapes and bite mark. "Crazy, he's a crazy person."_

_"Koi, I'm sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you. Some members of our clan are gifted with this certain ability, it's a healing bite. I didn't think you had it, so I didn't tell you."_

_"What do you mean you?" I had asked, my red brows furrowing together. Geez, being so confusing._

_"Remember how I said the Uzumaki's life force is very large? Well, some don't have this ability because they aren't fully blooded Uzumaki, but there are some with greater life forces than others that can heal others by feeding someone their chakra with a bite. The older you grow, the more effective it becomes." Jii-chan explained. I nodded. So it was because I was a purebred Uzumaki, which meant Karin had to be too. And since Naruto wasn't, he didn't have the same problem. That and he had the Kyuubi and that would've just sucked to be the person sucking out his chakra. "Since you're so young though, I wouldn't recommend letting others bite you, it causes chakra exhaust."_

_"So that's why I'm sick? And not because Shuu-kun is invested with some sort of disease?"_

_"Yes, that's right." Jii-chan frowned at the mark. "Too bad that's permanent. I was hoping you'd never have to deal with this." He sighed. The picture became blurry, even though I hadn't even realized it was just a picture. I felt myself move despite this. A sigh escaped me as -_

"I-It's permanent!?" I cried out, falling off the bed with a thump. I saw Acchi peer down at me, curiosity etching the surface of her face.

"Are you alright?" Acchi asked when I heard Kocchi grumble from the other side of the room. I nodded, my eyes coming to glare at the mark on my wrist. Two weeks it'd been there. Two weeks! And it didn't look to be fading any time soon. Silently I cursed the stupid boy who put that on me.

"Breakfast before anything, please." Droned out Kocchi. I nodded in agreement then stood up to head into the living room.

Acchi and Kocchi both lived in an apartment complex with their parents and little brother, Ureshige. I'm pretty sure the name was an attempt to Kumo-fy the little guy, he was only three at the moment but looked just like his dad. He was definitely going to grow to look like the little boy in _The Grudge_. Haha, I really loved the family. They were what I comprised most of my internal jokes off of.

The reason I had the sudden invite to sleep over though wasn't for fun, or well it was but not just because of that. It was because this was the day that the twins mother came home from one of her missions. That was exciting for me, so of course I wanted to be one of the first to see their mom.

"When is your mom coming?" I asked as I sat down onto the floor pillow closest where the twins would sit. They both yawned as they collapsed into their pillows and shrugged.

"She's supposed to be coming home today, but we don't know when." Acchi gave me before she stood back up to walk towards the small kitchen that sat next to the dining and living room space. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Noodles of some sort." I groaned, hitting my head on the table that sat above our legs.

"You mean ramen?" Kocchi amended. I nodded once, eyes closed to take a quick nap. Kocchi prodded at my face, poking my cheeks with her hand. "How cute."

"I'm not cute!" I grumbled, lifting my face to glare at her. She grinned, shrugging her shoulders with a 'are you sure about that?' look. I pouted, I seriously was getting tired of the whole "cute" thing.

Sure I was a little girl, sure I had incredibly soft hair and skin, but I could only take so much of the disgusting cuteness of this life. It was like the roses and flowers that Tamaki seemed to possess as a frequent air also permanently had me in a bind to words that I no longer liked. I wanted to hit anyone who called me those things...gah!

"But you are!"

"Shut up! You're not much older than me so you shouldn't be talking down to me like that!"

"I'm 8, I believe I do have that right, you five year old." Kocchi poked the crease that had formed at my eyebrows with a soft grin.

"I'm turning 6 next week." I pointed out.

"Ah ha! So that's when your birthday is! What time next week?" Kocchi stood up gracefully, her longer legs going about as she made a little victory dance.

"That's what this is about? No!" I got up immediately, hitting my knee on the table in a very ungraceful fashion. I instantly tumbled down in a mini domino effect. "I won't tell you."

"Aw, why not?" Kocchi said, looking at me with absolutely no concern whatsoever as I rolled around with my hand on my legs.

"Because! You'll try to do something crazy! I will not have that!"

"But how will we celebrate your birthday? You're very special to Acchi and I, it'd be a shame if we couldn't celebrate it." Kocchi pouted. My hand instinctively reached out to console her, which was a very bad decision as she grabbed my hand immediately. She pulled me up and into a hug, towering over me with her greater height. In my old life, this would be completely opposite...

"No." I rasped out shaking with anger in her arms. I didn't want to die, I really didn't.

"Ramen's done!"

My hands darted up to push the other girl away as I jumped to the side to save my ramen before either Kocchi or Acchi had the chance to get to it. I've been sick plenty of times because of the twins, when it came to immunizing me, they had taken it upon themselves to poison me several times. Even though I was a rather healthy person in general, that didn't matter when your best friends had taken a fancy to such a dangerous hobby. The Uzumaki genes only went so far after all.

Again, I didn't want to die an early death.

"Don't worry, Koi-chi. We haven't been working on anything lately. You're safe."

"I damn well better be..." I grabbed a pair of chopsticks before setting them in my bowl. As the twins both took their seat on their pillows, a giggle escaped from somewhere in the house.

"Ureshige's up."

"Geez, I hoped he wouldn't wake up this early..." Acchi murmured with a cooled expression. Her chopsticks came to her mouth, noodles latched between the wooden sticks.

Immediately I felt a weight at my side, a tiny warmth that made me froze. I squeaked when I looked down to see the little guy in question stare at me with the cutest, scariest expression ever. My arms flung themselves around his small form with a tiny sound made at the back of my throat that obviously gave away the fact that I was happy.

"Cuuuuuteee!" I squealed as I gripped the boy. Again, I was reminded the reason why Tamaki was like the way he was. And why I shouldn't hate such words when it came to other things.

"Hey, hey! I'm cute, too, right?" I heard a rough voice from behind me. I turned to see their father, pale white skin and dark circles around his eyes highlighting that he probably hadn't slept last night. Then again, those things were probably permanent by now.

"Hi, Yau-san." I beamed at him. "Sorry to break it to you though, you're not cute."

He laughed, rubbing the back of his head in a circular motion. "I guess not, eh?" He grinned sheepishly down at me, in a rather cute...weird way.

"Nevermind." I amended, moving around Ureshige as I grabbed my chopsticks to finally take in a bite of ramen. There was an egg and several toppings, like naruto for example. Acchi wasn't a master chef, as she was only eight but the food she did make tasted well above what I would think someone that age could make.

"You know, for a toddler you're really smart." Yau said as he took a seat besides his daughter Kocchi. She glared at him before shifting her attention to her food. I guess she was still angry over something that he'd done.

"I'm not a toddler." I replied immediately, patting away Ureshige's face when he tried to slip a bit of my noodles into his mouth. The little bastard.

"You're five."

"But at the same time I'm not." I said as Ureshige grumbled before pouting up at me with the cutest expression. I'd hardly even understood what I was just saying, when my words repeated in my head I panicked. "I-it's because you can't judge someone's real age just by how many years they'd lived...it's all...about...maturity?" With a quick flip of my wrist, I sent a noodle into the kids mouth before turning to Yau with a poker-face Lady Gaga probably couldn't beat.

"I see..."

"Koi is a genius, I think." Kocchi laughed. "She may not act like one of those self-absorbed, pretentious prodigies but she's way smart. Taught us more than the teacher has."

"I agree, Koi is smarter than most her own age."

...Shit. Did I really act that much out of my age gap? Sure I wasn't actually as young as I appeared...but I didn't know what to do. Was it better to dumb myself to the point that this world became a chore rather than a new chance a life, or to go as normal and be as I usually would. I guess it no longer mattered to make that decision, as my actions had already dictated this, still this worried me. I didn't want to be seen as a genius, because it was something that I just wasn't. Just because I got some concepts more swiftly, or I already knew about it didn't mean that I was smart...I was just lucky to have memories of a time where I was an adult. I wasn't smart but I wasn't stupid either.

"Pft, what are you talking about? I'm not all that smart! Haha..."

"Not smart! Haha!" Ureshige cutely chorused. I nodded to the kid, he was on my side.

"What's wrong, Koi? Usually you'd be soaking up the praise like some kind of ultra sponge." Kocchi joked out, sipping at her noodles. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Nothing's wrong, I just don't think I'm all that great."

"Yeah, agreed. You're not as amazing as Yuu-san." Acchi replied, her eyes fluttering as her chopsticks came to her lips again. Huh?

"How did this conversation include a boy?" Yau asked immediately, his eyes darting between his twins.

I struggled not to laugh at the look of horror on Kocchi's face at the words Acchi had just said.

"Don't tell me..." Kocchi began, her face struck as if someone had placed an arrow in her heart. "You and..._Yuu-san_?" Acchi looked up with a shocked expression.

"What?" Understanding hit. "No!" Followed by unsure giggles.

Young, too young. "No!" I pointed a finger out to the other girl. "You're not allowed to!"

"Aw, are you jealous, Koi-chan?" Yau asked his face alight at the prospect. This man should've been on my side, but instead wanted to tease me?

"What? Why would you-" I began, right before I was cut off by a small knock at the door. At the sound, everyone stood up and headed to the front door. The entire conversation forgotten. How...quick.

With a look of confusion, I followed the family to the door.

"Kaa-chan!" Kocchi burst out once she opened the door to reveal a-well actually she looked relatively normal. She was pretty, but it seemed her children hadn't gotten her normalcy. Brown hair and dark eyes with tan skin. She looked like the complete opposite comparison. Her face held a splattering of freckles that made her a tad bit unique and the way she moved obviously had something to do with how the twins did. I guess she did give her children something, and that was the deathly silent way she strode into the living room, the same graceful long legs making no sound to be found.

"Kocchi!" her voice was a flutter, like a nice beat that you could repeat. The woman swooped in to give my friend a big bear hug. Once they were done, she turned to Acchi and hugged her as she bubbled out her name. The same for Ureshige, although she didn't let go of the boy but swoop him into her arms so she could hold him. He giggled at the swoosh she made with her mouth.

"Honey," Yau cried out, hugging both his son and his wife. "my love!"

I stood awkwardly as Kocchi and Acchi both gazed up to their mother like they were star-strucked. When they finally remembered that I existed, they bounded their way to me, calling their mothers attention to me. She looked at me curiously, but nothing more.

"This is Koi-chi!" Kocchi exclaimed.

"Sawada Koikan." I amended quickly, a blush rising to my cheeks as I nervously stared down at my bare feet. I'd always been bad at introductions...

"Ah, Koikan-chan, nice to meet you." She set down Ureshige and brushed off Yau as she approached me with a small smile. She crouched down to look at me eye to eye. "How old are you?"

"Five."

"Six in a week!" Kocchi put in, elbowing me in the ribs for good measure. I sent her a look before awkwardly nodding to the woman.

She chuckled, patting the top of my head. "I'm Junai."

"Junai-san." It was a pretty name...pure love? "It's nice."

"Ah! You're so cute!" without me realizing it, she'd brought me in for a tight hug. "Can we keep you!?"

Damn it! Right when I thought someone in this world was normal for once! I resisted my urge to hit her, my face tight as I pulled my lips in.

"No." I replied tightly. I needed someone who wouldn't fall for this cuteness.

I needed someone who wouldn't immediately succumb...

I was alone for the day, out shopping for Jii-chan as he stood at the shop he had acquired a few days ago. I could have gone to hang out with my friends but instead I felt like I wanted my space for the day, my birthday was in a few days after all and that meant I would be pillaged for the right to know. And I knew that I'd crack under the pressure.

So I walked in the market, whistling a tune long gone, something I'd never be able to hear with these ears for as long as I lived in this world. It was a favorite of mine, but I hardly remembered how it went so I just made up most of it. It was one of the songs in the movie, _Howl's Moving Castle, _Merry-Go-Round of Life. I loved listening to it as I coded webpages and even more so when I took to writing my fanfictions. It was something that set me at ease.

As I whistled I came across a sight I'd never think I'd have the luck of having. When I pictured Yugito, I saw a strong, independent woman who took shit from no one. I thought she was a bad ass, and a loving one that lured the akatsuki away from Kumo in order to protect it. I saw someone who was catty, and yes that was supposed to be a joke. She was a cat with claws I'd never want to be on the other end of in a battle.

But the person I saw before me wasn't the same Yugito I'd seen in the show.

Yugito stood, mere inches from where I was, her eyes looking over various equipment. When her eyes latched onto an explosive tag, I looked over it. It didn't look like a good one, more like a dud that would explode immediately if the user even attempted to activate it. Before she could grab for it, I strolled over to the tag and picked it up.

"Little girl, I don't think-" Yugito started, but I cut her off with a wave of my hand as I examined the tag. Yup, as I'd thought, the lines weren't done properly or even in the right patterns.

The shopkeeper eyed me warily as he stepped in with worry.

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes. This tag is defective." I replied, showing him the lines. I drew over it with my fingers, making the correct markings. "The symbols are drawn wrong."

"Oh, you're right." Yugito replied, a breath of relief coming out as if I'd just saved her the trouble. Which I did.

"They shouldn't be, I payed good money to have these made right." Shop keeper said, rubbing at his balding head.

"Well, they are. I'd suggest having a word with the guy who makes these," I chuckled as I set the tag down. "or better yet, how about I make you some new ones?"

"You could do that?" Yugito asked. "But you're just a little girl and tags are hard to make." the girls lips turned up into a tiny smile that said she didn't believe it one bit.

"Not really, you just need to have the right hand motions and concentration." I replied with a grin. "Jii-chan taught me how a long time ago, now I'm working on a lot harder stuff."

"Wait, how old are you?"

"F-Six." Might as well go as the age you soon will be, am I right? I went through my obi in search for the seal paper that I usually kept stashed. Upon finding them I flung them outwards with a tight grip so they wouldn't fall away. "Have some ink?" I asked the shop keeper, he nodded and shrugged as he went to the back of the store.

After a few seconds he came back with my needed materials and once he set them in my hands I went to work, working in chakra as I painstakingly drew the symbols and lines from memory. The trick to making any seal was to press in as much chakra as you could into the ink as you went, the more chakra the more of an explosion you'd get. Since I was only making a few of these, I used up a bunch of my reserves, but it was a lazy day so it didn't matter if I used it all up.

After I was done with one of them, I handed it to Yugito who eyed it curiously, although with wariness.

"How about this lady, we can go test these out when I get a few more done. Kay?" She nodded, then blew on the ink so it'd dry faster.

This Yugito was nice.

**A/N:** Yo! So yeah, I finally have someone canon show their face and not for just a quick show up. Anyways, I hope this chapter was okay. Thanks for reading, please review if you can!


	7. Chapter 7

**ナイトウォーカー ****\- Night Walker**

まだまだ帰れないよ

I still can't go back yet

帰り方分かんないよ

In fact, I don't know how to get back.

意地張りの頭じゃ考えられないよ

With this stubborn head of mine, my brain can't function.

独りぼっちは寂しいな

It's miserable being all alone.

そんなの分かってたのに

I knew that already,

電車に飛び乗った 電車に飛び乗った

But still I jumped on board, jumped aboard the train.

_Words by Ramune (__ラムネ__) / MurabitoP (__村人__P)_

_Translation by zcatcracker_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

**Warning:** Language.

"They actually work!" Yugito clapped her hands together as the tags exploded off to the side, I smirked a little, giving myself an inner pat on the back.

"Of course they work, I was taught by the best." I said. "So you should just start buying your tags from my Jii-chan's store."

"Your Jii-chan has a store? What's it called, I'll stop by later."

"It's just called, Uzu Fuu. I can take you there if you want!" I bounced towards the girl, who only looked to be a preteen, around 10-11 or something. Yugito still even held a slight pudge to her cheeks that hadn't been there when she was an adult, it was so cute I just wanted to squeeze her!

"Swirl Seal?"

"Yup, it's actually pretty hard to miss, we have this big swirl-y circle thing on the top of the shop." I giggled, thinking back to when Katai and Tamaki had helped a few genin put it up. It'd been hell for Katai since Tamaki had been busy fawning over this cute girl and irritating for me because the other genin couldn't help but fawn over _me_. Sometimes, I hated being this adorable. "My offer to take you later still stands."

"Uh, sure...how about sunset? I have training with my team..." Yugito blushed, looking down as her long strands of blonde hair drifted downwards. Yugito's style had changed a lot compared to what she looked like now and the future, I realized. She wore a too of a big kimono that hung loosely on her small body, the cuffs reached past her hands and the kimono itself extended just past her calves, which didn't look purposeful. The kimono she wore had small cat prints on the hem of the skirting, while the upper half included a design of cherry blossoms. Yugito's hair fell around her shoulders in long waves, nothing to clip it all back.

"What's your name?" I asked, extending my hand quickly as I had forgotten one of the most important things to any relationship. Introduce yourself!

"Nii Yugito." She replied, her hand reaching beyond the long cuff. Our hands met and she ducked her head low as it did. "Nice to meet you, and you are?"

Our hands were released a brief second later, "Sawada Koikan."

Yugito pursed her lips in thought, her eyes slightly narrowing. I couldn't help but smile at the resemblance to a cat being perplexed by something. "You're a civilian? I don't think I've ever heard your clan name before."

"Probably not, the clans all broken up now. And we weren't all that powerful. But we were taught seals that resembled the Uzumaki's." Her head ducked in understanding, a slight pull to her lips indicating that she kind of figured.

"That's why you're family runs a seal shop, right?"

"I guess." I kicked at the rubble of the destroyed boulder we'd targeted for practice. "Jii-chan told me it's because he has no other use."

Yugito nodded, "well, let's meet back here."

"Kay."

**＼****(~****ロ＼****)****＼****(****￣０￣****)****／****(****／ロ****~)****／**

As I kicked off to meet with my dear Yugito, I came across another strange sight.

_I didn't know Shuunei had bullies..._was my first thought as I watched several kids older than Shuunei, all giving the little guy trouble. They all looked like him though, at least in the aspect that they resembled each other in the way Uchiha resembled other Uchiha or the Uzumaki resembled Uzumaki. Nothing said that these teenagers weren't related to the boy, but the way they moved and acted certainly did. Shuunei was often kind of a klutz and talked with in a gruff, _I'm trying way to hard to intimidate you_ kind of way. These big kids were all grace and mannerisms, even while picking on the weak.

As I neared I caught a bit of the conversation as the tallest of the group raised his voice slightly.

"You're disgracing the Netsubou clan by hanging out with..._those people_." The last bit was spoke with a disgusted face and a slight drawn out nasally voice. I couldn't help my snicker as I crouched forward, deciding to hide behind a rock that stood near them. Yup, I was such a ninja.

"_Those people_ are my friends." Shuunei replied, his voice almost like a girls compared to the deepness of the older ones. I almost laughed at that, but held back only because I wouldn't dare interrupt until I had an idea of what was going on.

"You don't need friends, only your clan." Another told Shuunei. I peeked over the rock to see Shuunei looked down, his face scrunched up in some sort of anguished fashion. So these people had a problem with who he was hanging out with? I thought back to who they could be talking about, there was Yuu and his brothers...Acchi and Kocchi now that he at least could tolerate them, and...me. Wait, were they talking about me? They better not be!

"What, a clan that doesn't even care for it's members?"

"Shuunei, your lucky you received your kekkei genkai, or else you'd be just like your father." The tallest one spoke again.

"Yeah, a traitor." said the lankiest one.

"A liar." A buff guy added.

"Worthless scum that was tossed out just like the trash he was." cried out the shortest one.

"Even your mother saw that!" the buff guy put in again.

"That's why she left, isn't it?" the tallest finished.

I had to cool my furnace at these insults, I was angry. Which surprised me, It wasn't like I liked Shuunei, just that...I felt as if something that belonged to me was being messed with in a way. I mean, we knew each other, hung out all the time(even if I never wanted to), he marked me even! I couldn't stand there while Shuunei got talked down to by some stupid bullies from his clan.

I nearly released a growl before Shuunei spoke, "Yeah. Tou-san did leave the clan, kaa-san left him. Left me. Because this clan wasn't worth his time and neither was that wretched woman."

Wait, was this why Shuunei had problems with women? What...what could someone possibly do to make someone hate a gender so much?

"You don't deserve the title of heir."

Ah, so that's what their real problem was.

"You're just lucky Dodai likes you."

So Dodai was the clan head, well it made sense as he was old and a canon character as far as I was concerned. Perfect placement if you asked me.

"Yeah, I guess I am." Shuunei said, and I watched him try to step away. He was blocked by the buff one, sending me on the alert. Shuunei glared, readying his palms for some sort of jutsu but before he could move his hands, glowing chains wrapped around the buff guys arms and pulled him downwards. New chains appeared, jumping around as the clan kids danced out of the way. There were four of them, making it extremely difficult to get the chains around them...and they were all over genin level...shit.

I fumbled around as I looked towards the chains, realizing that I'd accidentally formed them without noticing it. Shuunei looked back to see me, eyes wide as recognition hit.

"Koi-chan..." Shuunei murmured before I felt the power of my chains burst and crack. I fell back as the chains dissipated, my hold on the big guy now non existent, looking up to see him glowering at me.

"Shuu-kun, get back!" I yelled as I stood back up, feeling only the slight woozy after effect of hitting the ground.

"What the hell are you talking about, you shouldn't even be here!"

"This is a public street! I totally can be if I want to!"

"Whatever just go away!"

"No. You go away!"

"We'll make you both leave this world instead." Upon another impact from the big guy, I fell to the side, along with Shuunei as he hit the same dirt before me. I laid on him, slacking as the world danced around me. Shuunei struggled to get me off of him, opting to roll out from underneath me. As he did so, one of the genin classed kids came after him, hitting their palms into his stomach. I growled as I jumped from the floor.

Immediately, those chains resurfaced, running along the ground to stalk out my prey. It latched onto the boys throat and I noticed he was the leader in all this, the tallest one that had probably led the confrontation. A fire burned in the pit of my belly as I snaked the chains up around his throat, feeling the tightening as I clenched my teeth with fury.

_No one_ was allowed to hurt my friends.

I squeezed, pushing more chakra, molding it to exude that wind-related color. In a burst of anger, I whipped the chain around, sending him crashing into the ground, then bringing it back up into the air. A red film surrounded my vision as I watched the boy writhe within my iron tight grip. Blood rushed in my head and pounded as I pondered just what kinds of noises this person had been making, a distant ringing only slightly connected me back to the world I gorged myself with the image of-

"Sawada Koikan!"

I stopped.

"Good, you finally listened. Now, set the idiot down." I felt a hand on my shoulder, a soft touch that I hadn't realized I'd welcomed. I looked back to see Shuunei's eyes wide with surprise and...fear? I didn't want to be feared...

With a quivering nod, I dropped the boy by releasing the chains and let their glow simmer to nothing. As I looked around, I felt eyes on me, the group of clan kids all watching with disgust and horror as the boy on the floor struggled to breath. Blood dripped from his throat and onto the flooring from where the wind chakra had cut in and I had the odd sense of...fear of myself.

I-I'd done that?

This was the first I'd noticed that I had such extreme emotions, I was an adult but without the rationalism of one as my brain wasn't fully developed enough to allow that. This childs body increased those emotions of rage ten fold...and it scared me. I wasn't murderous, never had been before. I'd never been so cheerful in my past life, I'd been the quite one who everyone ignored. Here though...I was loud, brash and didn't think before I acted.

I didn't want this, didn't want to be afraid of _myself_.

The boy shook on the floor, gasping for air that wouldn't come, a crushed windpipe...I stepped forward before Shuunei could stop me and placed myself in front of the boy.

Oh well.

With a sigh, I jammed by wrist in the guys mouth and watched more than felt his teeth rip into my skin. I felt my chakra dissipate until I was near slumping and his wounds miraculously repaired themselves, his breath coming evenly now and his body calming. Minutes passed as I felt my chakra be sucked away, this would scar...but blood on my hands would scar me more.

Hands stopped me from falling to the ground as the world spun around me. I looked up to see the familiar unfamiliar sight of Yugito, her face scrunched up in worry.

"Sawada-san?"

**＼****(~****ロ＼****)****＼****(****￣０￣****)****／****(****／ロ****~)****／**

_Shuunei - 3rd Person POV_

It hadn't been a first to see a woman become so dangerous, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. But something was different about this unusual anger that Koikan had wielded, she was usually a happy person. So go-lucky it was irritating and Shuunei found that although he claimed to hate her, he only harbored feelings of annoyance to the brash Uzumaki girl. She was loud but she was also kind, there was no doubt about that. Until he watched her thrash around Tousei, nearly killing him in the process.

And at the same damn time she was the most frightening creature in existence with what Tamaki would call cute-ness.

Watching that, well he felt a little scared...she was so extreme. But once she calmed, she'd looked around to see the fruit of her destruction, and she herself had been terrified. Without even thinking about the danger she placed herself in, she'd defended Shuunei but nearly killed someone. And doing that would have put her in a terrible situation. Knowing her, Koikan wouldn't be able to take that kind of pain.

She had done that weird heal bite technique that Shuunei had accidentally discovered for himself. He knew how good Tousei would be feeling with her breezy chakra flowing into his systems, repairing whatever damage she'd inflicted during her reign of anger.

Biting her felt like a nice day in the middle of summer, a slightly chilly flow of wind hitting you gently on your skin, strengthening you to keep moving as if you'd just run a marathon but needed to keep going further.

That's what it'd felt like to Shuunei, which wasn't like any other medical ninjutsu he'd felt before. It was special, something like life being flowed through your entire body, lighting up every which way to make you feel alive.

Koikan felt like life to Shuunei.

"Koi-san?" Shuunei heard an unfamiliar voice from behind him, he turned to see a pretty girl a few years older than him standing near by. Shuunei recognized her as the girl that everyone had stayed as far away from as much as possible until recently. She was the jinchuriki for the nibi, a container that should've been feared with the demonic chakra she had within. But now that Killer B was around and protecting Kumo along side the Raikage, things had changed, if only slightly.

The only reason why Shuunei knew about the containers was because of who his uncle was, Dodai had been the one who searched for the right container for the hachibi and although it wasn't known, his father had done the same for the nibi. His uncle was highly respected inside the village, but the clan was still disgraced. Because of his traitorous father, and now he was stuck to clean up the mess.

The girl walked right up to Koikan, somehow knowing his friend, even thought Shuunei was certain he knew everyone that Koikan did...

"Hey, don't touch her!" Shuunei rose like some kind of little guard dog, barking at the intruder. Shuunei didn't like someone else that he didn't know touching his friend...wait, his friend? Since when was Koikan his _friend_? More like mortal enemy. Yeah. He didn't like people around his _enemy_.

Koikan fell into the containers arms, and the girl fumbled around with Koikan's body before lifting her up with ease.

"What happened?" the girl asked. Shuunei glared.

"None of your business. Now, hand over Koi-chan."

The girl gave Shuunei a cursory glance before chuckling a bit to herself. "No, I'll take care of her, just take me to her Jii-chan's shop."

She stepped forward, draping Koikan on her shoulder before patting Shuunei on his head.

Shuunei was surprised, no one was ever weird enough to do that to him. Well except maybe Acchi and Koikan, but Acchi was just strange in general and Koikan he knew didn't like him well enough to ever touch him.

"Come along, little pup."

Pup. Puppy? Puppy!?

Shuunei wasn't a dog!

He grumbled as he pointed the girl in the right direction. "Fine, fine. But if you hurt her, I'll kill you."

"I never did like dogs." She added as an afterthought. Yeah, whatever.

**＼****(~****ロ＼****)****＼****(****￣０￣****)****／****(****／ロ****~)****／**

I awoke, a dry feeling in my mouth as I tried to look around. It was dark, which hindered my sight and had me shaking in the bed in which I found myself in. When the hell had I gone to sleep last night? I couldn't remember dinner, which I usually did because I ate most of it.

Usually, I went to sleep when it was light out, around 6-7 pm, not just because this body needed more rest than my last one but because it kept me from having to see pitch black darkness as I tried to sleep, so I went to bed before Jii-chan, and since I was the type to sleep through the night without many problems, I often woke up with the light. Meaning I went to bed when there was still light, and woke up when it was brighter!

But the problem here was that it was dark outside and I was hungry as well as thirsty. My stomach grumbled in agreement and I felt around myself to see if Jii-chan was around. He wasn't, which was terrifying.

As I got off the bed, I felt the heavy padding of something on my wrists again. I rubbed my hand across the supposed to be bare flesh to find it wrapped in something, which was peculiar as I hadn't remembered getting that either.

_What the hell happened?_ I found myself wondering as I tried to think of anything but monsters in the dark as I walked towards the wall to find the light switch. I swear to god, if somebodies hiding in this room just to scare me...

"Koi is..." what? Jii-chan's voice resounded just outside the door, in the living room in which sat beside the bedroom. I pressed my ear to the door, so I wouldn't interrupt anyone by opening the door. "I'm sure she'll apologize for what she did to your son."

Wait, what did I do to someones kid this time? I thought back but found nothing in my head that could alert me to some crime. Geez, this amnesia after sleep better stop, I mean this had only happened one time before where I couldn't quite remember-

Bandage on my wrist, don't remember dinner...dark out. God damn it! Is this Shuunei's fault!? I thought back again, hoping to find the memory surface and found only snippets.

"That girl is a monster!" the sound alerted me. Pft, me? A monster? That's as likely as...well actually I could get pretty crazy. Crazy..."A beast who nearly killed my son!" a woman screamed. Nearly...killed?

"There's no scars from the so called 'strangulation' or cuts from anything chakra related, right?" I heard Shuunei's quite calm voice counteract. Why is that lame kid here? "So how do you know she actually did that?"

"We only have your sons word and his friends, which he could've easily fabricated the story with them." Yugito agreed. Why is she here?

"I didn't lie!" Why was that voice even slightly familiar?

_"Koi-san?" _The red that I'd seen...everything drifted back to me, the reason the boy was almost killed by my hands, the feeling of my chakra leaving me.

I sat at the door, making sure not to make a sound as I held back tears, I didn't mean to...hadn't really wanted to do that, right? I pressed my knuckles to my eyes, forcing the red to recede. I no longer liked the color...I didn't want it anymore, didn't feel proud to show the blood not only on my hands but in the natural color of my hair. For the first time I was happy I had to dye my hair black.

_Make it go away..._what I would do to go back, to make sure that none of this ever happened. I wanted to go back...wanted to feel the comfort of being in my dad's ice cream shop, wanted to see my little sisters, wanted to sit in front of that familiar computer that gave me light even while I was in the dark.

I willed the tears to go away, I had been a crybaby in my old life...but so far in this life, I'd only cried as a baby and even then, I found myself only crying if Jii-chan did. Which wasn't very common, and ever since we'd come to Kumo his health had improved, although he still couldn't do many things as he grew older. These days he took to training me and had some kind of relationship with Tamaki and Katai, along with some promise that had been made in secret behind my back.

"My son isn't a liar!"

I'd had enough of this.

I stood up, rubbed at my eyes which were as tearless as always and pushed open the slide door that would lead into a hallway. Everyone heard the squeak as I stepped into the hallway, my bare feet making padding noises as I headed into the living room.

Inside I saw the tall guy I'd seen picking on Shuunei, he flinched as I made my way into the room. Shuunei sat, his eyes drooping only slightly as if he was getting sleepy. Yugito sat next to him right by Jii-chan's side and I wondered how she came to be there, perhaps Shuunei had lead here there but I'd always figured Shuunei didn't care enough to know where I lived. I hmphed as I headed towards Jii-chan, lifting his arms as I crawled in to sit on his lap.

He chuckled finely as I settled there to give the bully a glare.

"I wouldn't have had to do that if you hadn't said those things to Shuu-kun, or if your gang hadn't tried to hurt him." I gave his mother a look. "I healed him right afterwards, there's no lasting damage, right? Now leave."

The two of them scoffed, the mother glaring at the lot of us, her eyes glistening dangerously. I countered it with a glare of my own, finding it somehow easy to intimidate someone way older than this body of mine.

"No lasting damage? I'm mentally scarred with the image of..." the boy shook as if he was witnessing something horrifying all over again. The mother got up, pulling at his arms to get him to leave with her.

"You're a ninja right? Live with it." I stood back up, cackling inwardly as he flinched away from me and I headed to the kitchen to find something I could heat up or just eat.

"Koi-chan's right, I'm sure you'll have much worse in the future." Shuunei agreed, his voice coming closer as he headed to the same place I was.

I pointed to a few snacks once he entered, raising my brow at the boy in a questioning way. He nodded and I took out two bowls to fill them with sweets and other things. We left the kitchen together, an almost mutual understanding with each other as we headed to the dark bedroom. Shuunei flipped the switch and sat on my futon, his eyes beginning to droop as he munched cutely on the snacks.

"Shuu-kun's staying the night!" I called back. "Yugito can too if she wants!"

"What!?"

So much for mutual understanding.

**A/N:** Sorry this chapter was so serious, or at least I was trying to make it serious. I need angst. I NEED IT.

I apologize if the action scene seemed a little forced. I'm bad at those...;A;


	8. Chapter 8

**神のまにまに ****\- As the Gods Say**

そうさ

That's right,

神の まにまに

as us gods say,

仰せの ままに

at our every command,

誰だって 地球を愛してる

everyone loves the Earth.

飲めや 歌えや

Drink and sing!

どんちゃん 騒ぎ

Everyone, be merry!

たまにゃ そんなのも いいね

It's not so bad every once in a while.

そうさ 北も南も

That's right, from north to south,

右も 左も

from left to right,

なんだかんだ 地球を愛してる

one thing or another loves the Earth.

泥んこ だけど

The path may be muddy,

歩いて 行ける

but we can still walk forwards

まだまだ 先は長いさ

We've still got a long ways ahead of us.

_Words by Rerulili/__れるりり_

_Translation by Coleena Wu_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Only every single one of my OCs that are in this god damned fic.

**Warning:** Language. Do I even need to warn you? Geez.

I didn't actually expect Shuunei to stay the night. I thought he'd totally say no, curse me for being an idiot, and book it as fast as he could on his remarkable legs. Shuunei had always been faster than me anyways.

Instead, even as I poked at his face he didn't stir, tired from having stayed awake late to argue with that tall guys mom apparently. I couldn't imagine the guy being worried about me. We had that understanding at least that we both kind of couldn't stand each other, even though it had gotten better. Hadn't it? It certainly felt like it had. I didn't feel the attraction of hitting him in the face out of annoyance, but it could've just been because he was sleeping and everyone looked adorable in their sleep...well, correction. Not everyone did.

Yugito hogged my futon, even going as far as to let her leg drape over me as she held me like some sort of teddy bear from behind. I guess it was slightly comfortable, if only a little bit.

This certainly was an odd turn of events.

I'd never slept with a boy before, well I'd slept with Jii-chan but he totally didn't count. Then again, Shuunei didn't have to count either. Wasn't like I liked him or anything.

I looked at his face again and felt myself stiffen with a disgusted sputter. Geez, yup, I wasn't the type to like anybody that way after all. I twisted my body away from him and found myself rubbing against Yugito for warmth.

I tried to snuggle into the arms of Yugito, who for some strange reason took me up on my offer to stay over. Well, it wasn't like I'd let her walk home alone. For some other strange reason, we had struck up an immediate friendship, which was pretty nice if you asked me. I liked Yugito, she was nice and pretty and comfy.

Yeah, unlike Shuunei.

Well Shuunei technically was a pretty boy, but I guess you couldn't classify him as such until he was a little older. As he breathed in and out, I had the sense of a calming feeling settling over me, my eyes began to shut. I hadn't felt tired at all but as I curled into my friends warmth, I felt...at peace.

I guess the kid was good for something...

**(****｀ヘ****´)(`****へ****´*)****ノ****(****^´)o(****^´*)ι(****｀ロ****´)****ノ****Σ(****￣皿￣****;(****ω)/****。・゜゜・****(*****)****ノ**

"Crap! Koi-chan, wake up!" I was shaken awake by that irritating voice. Nevermind. Screw whatever progress in this relationship we'd made. My fist shot up for a right hook to the face, but instead it only connected to his chest and even then it wasn't all the forceful.

"Ah, what, why?"

"Academy!"

I bolted upright, finding that Yugito still curled right next to me slept soundly through the Shuu-Alarm. Her breath came evenly as she moved around. I hated to wake her up, but...

"Yugito-san." I murmured, shaking at her gently as I waited for her eyes to open. Dark eyes opened in a wide effect as she quickly sat up to look at me. I gave her an innocent look. After a beat, she breathed out in relative relief.

"Koi-san, thanks for letting me stay over, but what time is it?"

I looked to Shuunei. "It's 7 am."

"Oh, I have morning practice today, thanks again! I'll have to come by later about those tags!" Yugito shouted as she stood up, her kimono threatening to fall around her, if it hadn't been for her darting hand to save her the embarrassment.

I sighed as she took the window expressway, ducking her head through just to come out of the other side. Shoud've known. Cats love heights.

"Bye." I mumbled as I yawned into a lifted hand. Shuunei gave me an odd look before standing up, looking as if he was ready to fight anyone. "What's got you pumped?"

"Nothing, I just feel relaxed." the boy gave me a smile, brightening his grey eyes to look almost white. For a moment I paused in the moment but came back nearly immediately once I was lost.

My look soured. "Geez, I hate it when you're happy. You're face looks stupid when it's like that."

"Oh shut up, ugly."

"Ah, just die in a hole."

"Not until you drown first." We paused, scratching at the back of our heads as we simultaneously pondered where we were going with our lives. With a glare I sat back onto my futon and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Ugh, I'm hungry! Go cook me some food, scoundrel!" I urged Shuunei, kicking my feet at his legs. He gave me a deadly stare, to which I responded by brushing it off and kicked at him further.

"What about your Jii-chan, get him to make you some food." Shuunei slapped at my bare feet, a look of disgust shadowing his face.

"He's working at the shop by this time, so he's gone."

"Well, I'm not taking care of you." Shuunei stood up, brushed at his legs and walked out of my room like he owned the place. With a pinched expression I leaped up and trailed after him.

"Come on, I'm your kouhai! You have at least two years on me!"

"Three actually, I turned eight like a couple days after I met you." Shuunei replied, without even turning his head. I grumbled. What great memory this guy has.

"Well I'm turning six in a few days..."

"...in a few days?"

"Yeah." I pouted, and was shuffled once Shuunei spun around quickly, without thinking I backed away from him and sputtered a soft curse. "Hey, are you trying to run me over?"

"When's your birthday?" Shuunei's eyebrows were drawn together. I shrugged, never knew he'd ever care about that stuff.

"May 15th." I concluded, rubbing at the bridge of my nose, fighting off another tired yawn. Shuunei grumbled, putting his hands to his ruffled hair, rubbing his fingers through with a slight hint of exasperation.

"Oh man, you share a birthday with Tamaki..."

"Yeah, so?"

Shuunei gave me a look of pity but never answered, instead turning back away to go through the front door and out of the apartment.

**(****｀ヘ****´)(`****へ****´*)****ノ****(****^´)o(****^´*)ι(****｀ロ****´)****ノ****Σ(****￣皿￣****;(****ω)/****。・゜゜・****(*****)****ノ**

That rude awakening was of course followed by school.

To be honest I found school in Kumo fun, I mean where else was I gonna get cute little kids all rounded about, their chubby faces alight with excitement for the brand spankin new day that awaited them!?

Especially when I was kind of like a fox hidden in sheep's clothing, although I definitely wasn't prowling in that _way_. Plus, I had to admit to myself that in my past life I was rather foxy. Wait, had I been?

I couldn't remember much about my old self, not anymore as the years faded and blurred. In fact it didn't even feel like I wasn't a kid...I mean I didn't act five, but...I don't remember being older than that.

For me, I'd always been a forgetful person, when my sisters would talk about the past I wouldn't have a clue in the world what they were talking about, though they all acted like it was the most exciting thing ever. With a sigh, I clutched at my head. When I couldn't remember something...it always felt like threads slipping through my fingers...

And I felt lost.

I pulled my hand away and looked at them, they were tiny but you could only see the dainty frailness if you looked closer. They were a seals masters hand, stained with ink from all the years I had been playing with my art. Usually a child's hand in my old world would've been clean with a softness that could only be matched by a puppies fur and a babies butt. If I was in that world, my hands wouldn't have scars, sure I didn't have as much as I could, but in a fight I was always the type to go crazy.

One day these hands would be scarred in more ways than one.

I sighed again and pulled my mind from those thoughts, acting as though I couldn't care less as I glanced towards the teachers teachings.

Today's lesson was on the basics of ninjutsu, something I had only scored a .5 on the last time we had an all around scoring.

In Kumo, we had monthly testings to measure our aptitude as well as just where we were at generally. Since of course I was more leaning towards being a seals master, my statistics showed that. I had more points out of a 0 to 5 range when it came to hand seals and speed than when it came to more hostile arts like taijutsu and ninjutsu. I didn't care much about those things, whatever right? Wrong, I really should've been trying to balance my scores instead of just focusing on one thing. Then again, who wanted to be a jack of all trades and master of none?

Not really me.

I wasn't even average in those areas where I didn't care, that's why it was starting to worry me a bit. To graduate as a genin you had to have an all around score of 15, for me I had a measly 7 at the point where I was, and it was kind of starting to piss me off a bit.

Another sigh.

"Hey..." Kocchi rubbed her arm up against me, bringing me from those thoughts. "What's wrong? You've been sighing a lot..." She gave me a smile, one that didn't make her look like some creepy child of The Grudge. I pouted, a soft warmth filling my insides. Aw, my little friend was worried about me!

"A-ah...I'm fine, just a little tired, some stuff happened yesterday with Shuunei." Immediately at the mention of Shuunei's name her entire face scrunched up with utter disgust.

"I swear to god if that little bitch-"

"Kocchi what did we say about cussing?" Acchi put in, her eyes grinning at the two of us with mild interest.

"Save it for when we're not in class."

"Exactly, you too Koi-kun." Acchi sighed, her pretty dark eyes batting in wonder. "I swear the two of you are like a bunch of old men with the way you talk. Koi doesn't even use the proper way for a girl to refer to herself, what a tomboy."

"Acchi don't continue, I'm wonderful the way I am." I cut in, defending my right to say boku. So what if I was a bokukko? I'm sure a lot of girls were.

"Girls!" the teacher snapped us out of our reverie, the ladies eyes burning with anger as the class burst out laughing at the fact that we were all caught.

"Sorry Sensei!" all three of us said in unison. The woman gave us a soft smile at our antic, then again went to brush us over chakra types.

"In Kumo we like to call us the melting pot of a diverse range of chakra types, because we have so many families around who have kekkei genkai and although none of them are dojutsu we have quite a number of kekkei genkai relating towards chakra types. Right now we're only talking about the basics, so can someone tell me what are the five types of chakra's?"

My hand shot up like lightning, but only at the same speed as someone else who sat several rows below me. _Shuunei._ He looked back to me, wondering why our teacher hadn't immediately picked him to explain. When his eyes locked with mine, we both glared. Little bitch was stealing me thunder! This was the only thing I could be good at to show off in class!

The teacher gave us both a look of humor, of course this was how it always was, wasn't it? Shuunei being a little ass just because he was a clan kid. Well I was one too! Kind of...

I guess in this class, Shuunei and my relationship with him could be seen as something similar to what Naruto and Sasuke had, but we weren't rivals so we only had the mutual hate going for us.

I prompted him a rude look before addressing the teacher with a polite smile. "Water, Lightning, Earth, Wind, and Fire."

"Hey no fair! You're supposed to raise your hand Koi and wait for the teacher to pick on you, it's common sense."

I smirked down at him, a sour expression on his face at my act of childishness. "This girl doesn't need to play by your rules."

"You're hardly a girl, ugly."

"Yeah, well you're completely a dumb ass."

"Children! Language!"

Sheesh, we were kids being trained to kill people, a little bit of laxness when it came to our speech would be nice.

Shuunei and I exchanged looks before looking back at the teacher simultaneously, "Sorry, Sensei."

**(****｀ヘ****´)(`****へ****´*)****ノ****(****^´)o(****^´*)ι(****｀ロ****´)****ノ****Σ(****￣皿￣****;(****ω)/****。・゜゜・****(*****)****ノ**

"It's May 15th." Shuunei murmured to Kocchi, whose grin broadened like the Cheshire cat she inwardly was. I cringed inside as I looked at that scene, a sinking feeling filling me as I turned away to pretend that never happened.

Nothing ever good came from telling friends your birthday, at least that's what I had learned as a past experience. Although I couldn't quite form the memory, and yet again it was pissing me off. I growled slightly under my breath as the bell rang to let us out for the day, my bangs brushing as my breath moved them.

I really needed to find something that I could do with my hair, it had grown again, like weeds just piling on my head, curls flowing outwardly and tangling at the ends. I wondered for a moment what kind of hair my mother had...I was sure it was just as outrageous as my own was, all flowing for a wild look, and maybe her eyes were just as starlight yellow as my own. And maybe she was just as angry that...

I choked on my own thoughts as I headed towards Jii-chan's shop. I really wanted to have...I just wanted to have the chance to see her, even once. I could hardly remember the day I was born, it wasn't like I was the best at those kinds of things. The only thing I had of hers that I could think about was my red hair, the prominent sign of my heritage. But even then I had it hidden.

I rubbed at my curls, trying to get a sense as to what part of me could've come from her, and if I had changed at all just from having been hers? I think in my old life I had been a quite person, here I was anything but, and it scared me to think that someone I didn't even remember could have such an effect on how I was.

As I approached the shop, which stretched along the busy street of a place resembling a market place, my vision blurred slightly as I neared a brave sign painted in bright colors that reminded me of a pretty popular fast food chain network thing that had good fries and nuggets. The only name I could think of was Mc...McyD's, or at least that was how it sounded to me in my head, I was kind of forgetting English so this was getting to be rather hard on me.

I entered the shop, greeted by a bright array of scrolls all painting the walls of the shop. I bet no one would think that the walls themselves were comprised of seals that protected the surrounding area. It was something that the Raikage told Jii-chan to install in order for him to be approved. I could see the need for a shield, it protected Kumo secrets and the like from nosy travelers and from theft. I was lucky enough to get to work with Jii-chan on the seal so I would know. It was good training getting to know how to make shields out of seals, but I was poor at them. Jii-chan had to keep repainting over my messy lines.

Once I saw the old man, his forehead crinkling in concentration as he bent over a complex seal with markings I couldn't really see, his lips pulled into his mouth as he worked at the delicate pages with a great amount of control and excellency. I quietly shifted into a seat next to him, making sure not to make a sound as I did so, wanting to see him work with that patience like he always did. For some reason, this calmed me and my thoughts, I felt at home and even if I didn't have my mother, I had him.

I would've called him father if it hadn't been for his strictness in telling me not to do so, he was Jii-chan and will always be Jii-chan.

As I looked at his face more I could see that he looked more aged than he usually did, and at the base of his neck was darkness, almost like ink spread onto skin. His robes shifted as his arm moved around the scrolls, hiding whatever lay underneath. To be honest, I was rather curious as to what was underneath his robes. I mean, I knew that lot of men bathed with toddlers in the nude, even if those toddlers were girls, and yet I couldn't remember a time or a place where I'd ever seen Jii-chan without his robes on.

Wait, did Jii-chan have something he was hiding from me?

I glanced at his work, the lines forming both symbols I knew and those that I didn't. Well, if he ever wanted to reveal it, I could only be patient with him, like he was with me and the works he loved.

I stilled as my hearts beating went in time with the patient flick of his wrist, with the ink that fell onto the scroll. My eyes shut slowly, and I forgot what I was thinking about entirely as sleep took me.

**(****｀ヘ****´)(`****へ****´*)****ノ****(****^´)o(****^´*)ι(****｀ロ****´)****ノ****Σ(****￣皿￣****;(****ω)/****。・゜゜・****(*****)****ノ**

"Wake up, Koi." Jii-chan's withering voice told me, a shake to his tone that wasn't always there. He was tired too, I could tell.

I glanced at him, my smile brightening when I saw the old man's face, his wrinkles again comforting me endlessly.

"Is it time for my lesson?" I asked, bouncing out my sleep as I sat up in front of Jii-chan.

"Yes, Koi." He grinned back at me. "Now come."

"Yes, sir!"

I followed him to the back of the shop, finding that we still resided there and went to enter the training space that Jii-chan had just for us and his students, which I'd only heard about lightly since I guess Jii-chan didn't want to tell me who he was apprenticing.

In the space was stacks and stacks of both used and newly made scrolls along with bucket loads of ink and books on the teachings of seals. The area itself held no dust as it was used daily, both while I was in school and out of it.

"I want to try something different with you, Koi. You see, as you know, fuinjutsu is something you need to have a lot of imagination for. Just like ninjutsu you can create your own techniques and even your own personalized symbols for a wide arrange of meanings and as such different uses. All I've taught you so far is the basics of the advanced techniques, but I'm sure with this you can even advance your art to make even your own way that no one can match, not even those with a dojutsu for copying."

"Wait, how is that possible?"

"Koi, there's a reason why our clan was feared." Jii-chan's face scrunched with a dark look, a hard expression at his words. I was too shocked for words, Jii-chan really wasn't the type to have such an expression, although if he was ever in a fight I'd bet that even this expression was nothing compared to what he could do...a chill ran down my spine. Just who was Jii-chan? All I really knew was that he was my caretaker, someone who loved me endlessly and even left his home to give me a better life.

"Y-yeah." The look disappeared as he continued.

"It's simple really. Of course if you were dealing with a genius this would be a bit more trickier to work with, but it's like a card game. A game in which the cards you play your opponent has no clue to what they are, and the rules you've made up is to suit only yourself. Like I said, if you were against a genius, they'd be able to see through your puzzles if only slightly."

"Then what's the point, there are geniuses everywhere." My awe decreased if only slightly, my hands resting at my side limply.

"Koi, as a seals master you must act like a medical ninja and keep yourself from getting hurt, although unlike a medical ninja your job is not to heal but to act as a decoy so your teammates may handle the rest. Remember, teams are important for this."

"So basically my job is to confuse the heck out of my opponents so my friends can beat the crap out of them." That didn't sound very fun, but it kind of made me feel important if only a little bit. I was like Hinata-kun from Haikyuu! The strongest decoy, hehe.

This was kind of beginning to sound like genjutsu though, as that was also a great decoy position, with all those illusions. I don't think he meant it in that way though, there were many ways to play decoy and many ways to play seals master.

"Right."

"Hmm," I paused. "What if I don't have my team mates." Don't tell me I'm shit out of luck...

"That's what those chains are for, my dear." He gave me an eye smile before continuing. "Though actually with these techniques you don't have to play decoy, you can go for the approach if you want, really it depends on what kind of style you have, Koi. Personally I've always been the one waiting for my opponent to attack."

"Haha, that sounds like you."

"Really?" He smiled again, then handed me a few scrolls. "These are my personal scrolls, I'm only teaching you them as the inheritor of the Uzumaki secrets."

Oh yeah, I was someone like that...for some reason it was easy to forget that I had a role in this world, other than glorified ninja-wannabe. I was also an Uzumaki, and although I didn't know who Jii-chan was, I knew he was somehow someone important.

I looked down at the symbols, pondering if these were the same ones he'd been drawing so patiently while I was sleeping off my weariness. Without even needing to I knew that these were special, important signs that he'd crafted with all his years in tow. This was like having history in your hands, right? Symbols that held a hidden dictionary, a dictionary that used to only to Jii-chan and now to me as well. This was something that was just like sharing a soul and I was grateful Jii-chan shared it with me.

When I was done with my curiosity I approached him without a sound and carefully folded my arms around Jii-chan's waist.

"Jii-chan, I love you."

"I love you too, Koi."

**A/N: **I wanted to write something a bit more serious than this story usually is, but I added a bit of fluff anyways. /since I'm super lame and a fluff junkie

Really that should be my pen name, fluff junkie.

Oh and forgive me for anything seal related again, I'm just getting started on the slaughtering of what the actualness of Kishimoto's seals were, my stuff is practically purely fictional so DON'T take it otherwise. Please and thank you.


	9. Chapter 9

**アイネクライネ ****\- Eine Kleine**

誰かの居場所を奪い生きるくらいならばもう

If I'm just going to live taking someone else's place,

あたしは石ころにでもなれたならいいな

then it'd be better if I could just be a pebble.

だとしたら勘違いも戸惑いもない

That way, there'd be neither misunderstandings nor confusion,

そうやってあなたまでも知らないままで

and then even you wouldn't know me.

_Words by Yonezu Kenshi/__米津玄師_

_Translation by vgperson_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, only my many OC's that all seem to be fricken weirdos for some reason. Except Jii-chan. Maybe. He has dark secrets so maybe not. You don't know.

**Warning: **Lol do I need to warn language? Seriously?

I realize that Acchi and Kocchi are popular. I'll try to include them when I can(Idon'tknowwhy,likeseriouslyIdidn'tevenenterthemcorrectly). o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡╮༼;´༎ຶ.̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨.̸̸̨̨ ༎ຶ༽╭o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡

Apart from it being a rare rainy day, I was incredibly happy. Jumping up and down as I played around with the scrolls Jii-chan had given me with his special seals. I looked about them, tracing them with my chubby toddler fingers. There was a nice feel to them that felt familiar yet a bit dangerous, like a pillow kind of. Pillows were familiar right? But in the hands of someone dangerous they could be used as weapons for assault. I feel as if sometime when I was in my old life, I'd received a black eye or something from a guy with a pillow. A brother perhaps? Ah, to hell with thoughts like these.

Couldn't remember right anyways. My lips pushed outwards in response to that, a small _pft_ escaping.

"Do you really enjoy it that much?" Jii-chan asked, coming from nowhere. I jumped, gazing at him with wide-eyes. "What you pop out all the time at me, why can't I spook you?"

"Because I'm a little girl, and little girls scare easy?"

"I thought you were a big girl now."

"I'm not six yet."

"Tomorrow you will be."

I giggled, a bright smile at my eyes as I turned to look at Jii-chan. For some reason, I could do whatever the heck I wanted to do when Jii-chan was with me.

Another year of being in a foreign fictional land!

I had to admit, I was doing pretty well with how things were. I mean, in terms of being alive in a place that was said to be dangerous as hell, I had to slap my back for my good luck. Because that's really all it was, good luck. Maybe all my bad luck from my last life became good luck in this life? I'd perfer it like that, that would mean that I could live a successful life. Though, what I felt in the pit of my belly didn't feel very pleasant.

_Nothing bad will happen as long as Jii-chan is here._

"Tamaki shares your birthday, you know that?"

"Yeah, stupid Shuu-kun told me." Jii-chan chuckled at the disgust that appeared on my face when I muttered Shuunei's name.

"Well because you do, we're going to their house for your birthday."

"Kind of expected that."

Jii-chan laughed again at my bluntness but continued, "I'm asking if you'd like to spend today out of school and on a trip with me? Since tomorrow I can't have you all to myself."

"Oooooh! Like a mini-vacation!" I jumped up, ready to dance around in my pajama's that I still wore. I looked to the windows, spotting the dreary rain and stopped for a moment. "But it's raining."

"Has that ever stopped the two of us?"

I thought for a moment. "I guess not. Because we're unstoppable!" I got ready to dance, and even brought Jii-chan's hands out of his robes just so he could join me when he brought his large hands to the crown of my head. I looked up to him, noticing that he really was huge compared to me, but still I felt no fear around him. A slight buzz of a memory came to mind at the sight of his face, at the beard and the palette of his exterior. _He resembles him a bit..._

"That's right, Koi." He smiled kindly at me, a fondness reaching his eyes and I felt my heart pounding with joy at the display of affection that only he showed for me.

Jii-chan was different around others, for_ me_ he was different, I realized. It gave me a much more lively bounce in my step. I was loved. That's what I knew, that's why I could stay here for so long and have felt no pain. I was never lonely because of Jii-chan, even when it was just the two of us. I was protected and loved and safe.

I wondered for a second if the old me had had that? I don't remember feeling this overwhelmed with love in my past life, I don't think I'd even known what love could make you feel like when you had it. Only that desolate emptiness of loneliness did I understand if only because that old me I was forgetting had surrounded herself in it. What a pitiful existence that was.

If Jii-chan ever left me, I don't think I'd ever have that again. I don't think I could take it.

Maybe it was the fact that because this life in this world was so perilous, it made others love more. You never know when tomorrow would be your last day, that's probably a popular saying here.

**o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡╮**༼**;´**༎ຶ**.̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨.̸̸̨̨ **༎ຶ༽╭**o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡**

The rain wasn't that bad as we trekked through piles and piles of rocks. Kumo was weird with it's desert like climate and cloud coverage, but at least we could be thankful for that. It wasn't as hot as it probably could be, like in Suna where everything seemed to be completely engulfed in sand and a dull beige color. It made me think of heat just thinking of it, which prompted the warmth at my fingertips in the hand that didn't latch onto Jii-chan's. Probably.

"You sure you don't want a piggy-back?"

"Yup! Besides, you're old aren't you? At least that's what everyone else says." Right, I lived in a desolate island with this man for years, I shouldn't have an idea what old age was...although in my defense, he often called himself an old man. Then again as a counter-claim against that, I shouldn't know what that entails. He never explained it to me.

"Whose saying that?" Jii-chan chuckled lightly, his wrinkled face examining my own smooth one. I let air escape puckered lips.

"No one important, just Shuu-kun." A lie but one could always blame an ass like Shuunei.

"_That's_ why you don't like him, isn't it." Jii-chan replied, tapping his chin while nodding with complete understanding. I giggled, jumping up and down as puddles underneath my feet splashed from under me. I wore a coat, although it was a little small for me, having only needed it while I lived in Uzushio. My feet even had cute little rain boots on, ones with ducks on them because when we passed them in the marketplace I couldn't leave without having a pair. So cute~

I guess in Naruto it was a trend to wear one outfit for years without changing until you needed to. For me, I needed a bit more of a selection, coming from a world where wearing the same clothes for days meant you were probably dirty.

"He's a stupid person who doesn't like girls, of course I don't like him."

"I see, I see. Just be careful no one mistakes him as your boyfriend."

I sputtered. "B-boyfriend?" I'd never had one! At least I-I don't think I had! I tried my best for recovery. "What's that?"

"Someone whose a special someone to you." Jii-chan wondered for a moment, his free hand scratching at his scalp.

I laughed. "Wouldn't that mean you're my boyfriend?"

Jii-chan outright laughed, gripping his stomach as he sputtered for breath. "N-no! Listen, Koi, you'll find out later."

"How much later?"

"A lot later."

It was kind of fun playing with the old man like this, acting as if I had no clue with what such a thing could mean. Of course I knew what kareshi was, just as I knew what a koibito was. Something like that was easy vocabulary to pick out, especially if you had a knack for eavesdropping like I did. Adult's simply weren't safe around kids like me.

"Fine."

A few more minutes of our playing around was starting to lead us to a great big canyon, but not just any canyon. There was color there. Grass started to pop out from under my feet as my rain boots went on, I heard a stream near by, although that could've just been my imagination as the rain was still there, albeit with a much lighter presence as the day went on. The sky was even beginning to clear up as we walked underneath a lamenting sky.

For a moment I wondered if in places where there was always rain if it always looked like it was crying. Maybe if I were to ever travel far enough, I could see it. Would being a ninja allow me that? Probably not, Kumo already had a very impressive armed military. We were the best in that field after all. But I needed to be stronger...if I couldn't, then that would mean I'd only exchanged empty words to my most important person.

"Do you like it?" Jii-chan asked as we rounded a corner made of rocks with moss. We stopped as we did, but Jii-chan quickly turned me to face different direction, I'd only caught a small glimpse of what he was hiding.

"Like what?"

"Is Kumo a good place for you?"

"Yeah! I have so many friends here!" I hopped, just thinking about those guys made me happy. Though not as happy as Jii-chan made me.

"Hm, that's certainly true, you know your mother was just like you."

"M-mom? She was?" I paused, my eyes down casting immediately at the mention of her. I was still a bit touchy on that subject, I guess.

Jii-chan touched my arm, rustling something away from my line of sight. "Do you want to know more about her?"

I nodded immediately, closing my eyes in haste, as if I could only see her if I couldn't see what was in front of me. Jii-chan turned me again, pointing me towards a new direction.

"Silly, open your eyes. If their closed, you won't be able to see."

I obeyed, opening them on command and was surprised to see-

I gasped, my hands coming to mouth as I eyed my surroundings with wonder.

It looked just like it did in Uzushio! Those mini-festivals! Lanterns stood all around us, making it easy to see even when the sky was dark. Stalls made of rocks and filled with prizes as well as games all sat there, looking as if they'd been waiting for years. It circled us, even sweets and vibrant colored foods were wrapped and away from the rains touch and under the shade of lantern lighting. There in the middle was a single table, and even though it rained there was no sign that it was soaked.

"Festival!" I shouted, prepared to go sprinting around like I'd always done when me and Jii-chan had our private celebrations. Jii-chan clapped a hand down on my shoulder before I could though. When I looked up to see him, he had the biggest grin, as if seeing my reaction to his hard work was the most wonderful thing in the world for him.

"It's not as big as the ones in Uzushio, and even though they have festival's in Kumo, too, I thought it'd be nice for it to be just the two of us."

I beamed up at him, nodding happily at the thought he showed me.

"Now, before we start, we have to do something."

"Like a mission?"

"Yup, exactly like a mission."

"Cool! What is it?"

"We have to make a seal to stop the rain from ruining everything." I nodded, cool. Jii-chan brought a scroll to my hands, handing me an ink pen and of course ink to go with it. I gave him a look of utter seriousness before moving to find a place that the rain didn't touch.

"You remember how to do it right?"

I nodded, sitting down underneath a tree, stretching the scroll out from underneath me. Dipping the pen into the ink and bringing it to the paper, I pulsed my chakra into the scroll, concentrating to make the lines perfect as I wrote out the characters needed to make a barrier of sorts to keep the rain from coming in. Once the lining was done, I placed my hand on the seal and shouted lightly.

"Kabe!" When nothing happened I rubbed at my head, sitting back down on the ground to think of what I did wrong.

"Remember, Koi, you have to think of your surrounding while doing this."

Oh right, I couldn't make a wall if I didn't have an idea where I want it, duh!

I slapped my hand down on the scroll, and this time pulsated chakra into it, thinking about the sky and how I wanted to halt the rain where it poured. This time as I pulsed chakra through, I felt the click and connection and even saw the lines snaking from the paper and into the very ground, surrounding the entire area like vines. My breath quickened as I sweated, geez why did I have to be so little? If I was older then it would make making seals so much easier.

"Great job, Koi." I looked up to the sky, finding that the rain didn't even touch Jii-chan as he walked underneath the mini-festivals surrounding area. I grinned, beaming at his smile and words of praise. Oh well, at least I was able to get the job done right?

I stood up, only finding it a little disorientating as I walked towards the old man.

No rain touched me as I went, in fact it was kind of an odd thing to see, the rain hitting and rubbing off of an invisible barrier. Nice.

"I'm gonna be so awesome when I'm older, geez." I mumbled quietly to myself. Hooray for nature defying tricks! If I could do this in my old world then it'd be pretty impressive, wouldn't it? I would show up even Criss Angel. Probably. I think anybody from this world could actually. Especially Naruto and Sasuke. Geez, those powerhouses.

Jii-chan walked towards the table in the middle of the circle and sat on a pillow which didn't look wet at all. Old man probably planned this, some practice while we were out couldn't hurt, is probably what he thought. He'd probably had a mini barrier keeping this from getting wet.

Well I was tired!

"Sit down, I have something to give you."

I nodded and seated myself on the plush pillow that didn't have any rain on it all.

"Did you know it used to rain a lot in Uzushio?"

"It did?"

"Yup, it's why this seal was made." Oh. Well leave it up to the Uzumaki to find a way to defy everything. "We needed something that'd let us party even during spring."

"Ahah! Jii-chan, it's weird how you're saying party." Sounded like such a young term but coming from him it was a bit childish, he looked a bit younger than he'd been looking these days. He smiled brightly at me, that fondness back in his eyes.

"It's true!" He joked, laughing along with me. When we stopped he timidly brought something from his robes, something that looked like a journal of sorts. It was thick, well cared for and binded by two brightly colored ribbons. He held it in his hands for a while, as if suddenly at a lost for what to do. He looked sad with the thing in his hands, this thing probably meant a lot to him...why was he showing it to me? Was this what he wanted to give me?

"What's that?" I asked curiously, scratching at the back of my head in confusion. He looked at me for a moment, then back at the book and sighed before unbinding the ribbons to crack it open. He peeled back a page and cleared his throat, an odd expression on his face as he looked at the yellowing pages.

"'_June 16th, The name I go by is Uzumaki Kusa. My real name is Kushira, though but I don't use it._'" Jii-chan stopped, his breath hitching at the name, but he persisted. "'_Mama and Papa told me to keep a journal since it's going to help me with seals later on supposedly. I'm an Uzumaki so I have to do my best and be just like my Papa! He's super-_'"

"Is this Mom's?" I cut in on accident, the weight of those words crushing me already. Jii-chan looked at me for a moment before nodding. "I-I..."

"I know, you probably don't want to know since she's never been your life...but it wasn't by choice." Jii-chan looked a thousand years older when I looked at him, he seemed to have the world on his back. My hands moved instantly to cover his in comfort.

"No, I know...I just don't think I'm...ready."

For a soon to be six year old, I shouldn't even know what ready was. But I wasn't six, and he seemed to understand that, even if he didn't quite get it.

His eyes softened as he looked at me. "You're so much like her." I gulped at that, another thing I had to live up to.

For the rest of our time there, we didn't speak another word of it, only played those games he'd set up, laughing as we went along in our own little world.

**o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡╮**༼**;´**༎ຶ**.̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨.̸̸̨̨ **༎ຶ༽╭**o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡**

"Happy birthday!" Everyone screamed, but I couldn't see anything in the crook of Tamaki's arm. This is what he'd call a birthday hug that he absolutely needed to have from me and me only. Because I was just _so_ cute. I allowed it only because he and I shared this day. But only because of that. I'd long outgrown the need to be called cute. In fact, I don't even remember having the need to be called cute.

When he let go of me I gasped for air, restraining myself from hitting the guy upside his lolicon face. Tamaki went on to hug Acchi and Kocchi but left out his brother and Shuunei. Yuu laughed at Acchi's face once Tamaki got a hold of her, usually she was a polite person all smiles and flowers. Her face then showed that she had several other expressions that we'd still never seen before. What a mystery that girl was.

Kocchi ran though, right through the backyard and didn't stop until we couldn't see her. Girl hated men like Tamaki, and I could see why with how her own father was.

"Kocchi get back here! If I have to endure it, so do you!" Acchi yelled once she was free and ready to run.

"Man, they're cute, but definitely not as moe as Koi!" I sidestepped just in case as Tamaki tried to pounce me.

"No way, you had your hug."

Tamaki pouted, moving to weep on Katai's shoulder as he did so.

"Katai! Koi-chan is being mean again!"

"That's your fault isn't it." Katai's expression was that of boredom as he moved out of his brothers reach. He adorned his Jounin clothing having come back from a mission, while Tamaki was in his casual clothes, which he'd told me he only wore inside the house.

"You always say that! But it never is!"

"Geez, you're so annoying." Shuunei grumbled picking at a bowl of chips. I went around in the kitchen and found Miwa cutting open a huge watermelon with a knife that scared even me. Her eyes were wide as she slammed her right hand down on the poor fruit, if you asked me, I'd say it was kind of creepy.

Yuu followed me, coming from behind me with a smile.

"Happy birthday, Koi." Yuu was someone I couldn't say I knew very well, but he was someone that I saw nearly everyday.

"Thanks." I paused. "Mind if I quiz you?"

"Sure, why not?"

"What's your favorite color."

"Green."

"Same. What's your favorite food?"

"Mom's cooking," A sly glance towards said Miwa who had another piece of the watermelon cut. "and Katai-nii's noodles. He does something to them and their really good."

"I know what you mean, he makes the best snacks, too." I nodded in time with the boy, who smiled at me warmly in return. "Favorite ninja move that you know?" Ninja move? Who says ninja move? Me.

Yuu laughed, "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because, you're a girl. It's inappropriate." I eyed him. I don't think I'd ever heard him say such a word. Weird. This kid was weird.

"Oh, okay." I paused to think. "Oh! What's your favorite movie?"

"I haven't watched any, not like we're civilians you know?"

"I guess that's true..." So suspicious...

"Koi, what are you doing?" Shuunei asked as he came up next to me. I glanced at him with a mild glare but cooled it down. He was kind of a friend now, right? I looked at him further. Hm, I still couldn't stand him. Since when had Koi-chan become just _Koi_?

"I'm interrogating Yuu, for he is a criminal."

"Pft, no he's not! If anything, you're the bad guy."

"What!? Just look at his face!"

We both looked at Yuu, his face still in an expression of a toothy grin. He blinked at us.

"See, like I said."

"You're right, he does looks a bit suspicious." Shuunei muttered, leaning in closer to have a better inspection.

I paused. "Cops and Robbers! Let's play! Let's play! Let's play!" I hopped around, remembering that such a game had existed in my old life. Yeah! I kind of remember...it'd been so many years since I'd played it though. Geez, when you were a kid everything seemed like fun.

At that moment both Acchi and Kocchi joined the three of us. Both of the girls looked confused as they approached us, matching Shuunei and Yuu who both looked at me with curious gazes.

"It's a game!"

"We got that."

"Don't tell me you've never played! There's gotta be a version somewhere in this place, right?" Something like Bad Ninja, Good Ninja? Samurai vs Ninja?

"We don't even know what the heck that is, Koi." Kocchi told me, her eyebrows drawn in. I gasped.

"We have to play then!" I shook my body around in excitement before settling with utter seriousness.

"What are you guys doing?" Tamaki and Katai asked in sync, coming up from behind Kocchi who visibly shook in the presence of the renowned lolicon.

"Game!" I shouted.

"Cool, we'll play." Tamaki decided for the both of them. I pointed to Yuu quickly before anyone changed their minds.

"Okay, you're the robber because you're suspicious. So you stole something and the rest us are cops, unless you want an accomplice. I think we can arrange that too. Miwa's knife is the object in which you have stolen and Tamaki is jail. 30 minutes of endurance means your freedom."

"What are you talking about? Miwa's still chopping up the watermelon. Pick something-" Shuunei started before Acchi cut in with a wave of her hand. I smiled at the act. Acchi was never the type to be rude like me.

"I have it." I was actually surprised to see her holding the knife in hand. I mean, I knew she was quick with her hands but...I just...I needed to rest now.

"Can Acchi be my partner?" Yuu asked, gazing at Acchi with slight wonder. Acchi giggled.

"Sure."

"Ugh! Before we start! What's the rules!" Shuunei complained.

"Uuuuuuuugggghhhh! You always have to have rules, don't you? Fiiiiiiinnneeee." I ground out, hitting the side of my head with my hands. "Our jobs as cops, that's the good people and not Acchi or Yuu, have to get the robbers into the jail which is Tamaki as I've said before. Anything to do that goes."

"That's all I needed to hear."

"Good."

**o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡╮**༼**;´**༎ຶ**.̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨.̸̸̨̨ **༎ຶ༽╭**o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡**

"Corner them! They're getting away!" Shuunei yelled. I did just that, getting my beloved Acchi into a position where I stood above her, ready to pounce. Yuu was with her, helping her out of a net Shuunei had thrown over her.

The Yoarashi compound was huge, even with a built in lake and bridge, and where they sat they were practically sitting ducks. I laughed at my joke, since they really were in the lake.

I flew off the bridge, my legs aimed at the back of Yuu so I could knock him down, but I was mildly surprised when instead of hitting who I thought I hit, it turned out to be someone completely different.

One of the Yoarashi kids I only vaguely remembered stared up at me with a look of shock before falling over and into the lake.

Shit.

"Shuu! Where are you?"

"O-over here..." I heard a voice call from somewhere near my left. I hopped towards it, bounced on my toes as I went. When I touched the ground I found Shuunei bent over, clutching at his stomach.

"Did they get you?"

"Yeah, you're stupid friend did." Good job, Acchi. "Koi, I hate to say this, but...we need to do it."

I stopped.

"Y-you can't seriously be-"

"Yes I am, I mean look at those two. They're doing better because they're combining their power, even when we're clearly stronger than them."

"True, true." We had better grades, too. "B-but...I don't know. This is my first time doing a tag-team." I faltered, bringing my arms closer to my chest.

Shuunei came up besides me, rested his palm on my arm and patted me. "Mine too."

I gulped.

"O-okay then."

**o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡╮**༼**;´**༎ຶ**.̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨.̸̸̨̨ **༎ຶ༽╭**o͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡**

"We're good friends." Acchi told Yuu as they made their way around Koi and Shuu who both stood discussing something, maybe even downplaying each other like they usually did. That's what happened when you placed 1st and 2nd together. Usually.

"Agreed."

"I hope they're planning on tag-teaming. I hate this solo-like fighting." Acchi continued, bringing a play kunai to her hands and straight from her pack.

"Yeah, I expected Kocchi and Koi to team-up, but I guess she knows who the real powerhouse here is."

"I can't belief Katai-san's playing a kids game."

"Is this a kid's game? Seems like training to me."

"Hm, yeah, but it is fun." Acchi agreed. They leapt to the top of the roof of Yuu's house and kept watch over their friends as they talked to each other with some sort of drastic feeling to them. "I can't help but feel they both have a main-character kind of feel to them, and we're just side characters with no personality. Even Kocchi has more of a presence than me."

"Acchi, everyone's a main character in their own way." Yuu shook at Acchi's arm, bringing her in for a light hug before resuming their watch on Koi and Shuu.

Acchi sighed, nodded in agreement once again and waved the knife around, a brighter smile that felt real at her lips.

"True that!"

Yuu pressed his hands on her arm. "I think they're on the move."

Acchi looked back to her two other friends to see them shaking each other's hands in some sort of deal with grave faces. Seriously, this wasn't that serious, was it? Those two were stupid, but after all, every main character seemed to be that way.

The two nodded at each other, then chakra-boosted and burning with energy, they both leaped into the air. Yuu grabbed for Acchi's hands as they dove from the roof and to the flooring, only to skid their way for bush coverage. Yuu grinned at her, as if they somehow got away with something they shouldn't have. Which they did.

"Where's my knife?" Sounded Miwa's voice from afar. Acchi held back a snicker as she lifted the sticky knife that still had the watermelon juices on the shining metal. Yuu pressed his lips together to keep from laughing as they listened to Miwa rummaging around the kitchen.

"We should get out of here." Acchi said as she placed the knife back into her bag. Yuu nodded, standing to a low crouch. Acchi followed suit and peeked out from the top of the bush, only to see nothing there. Acchi motioned for Yuu to follow her as she shuffled from under the bush and to the shade of a tree.

They slunk in the shadows together, although they had both seemed to have lost their pursuers and couldn't tell where they could've gone.

"Looking for something?" Sounded a voice from above them. Acchi and Yuu both looked up to see Shuu being carried off in large amount of chains, he was lifted as if like a rock in string and before Yuu or Acchi could act Shuu was headed towards them.

"Get 'em, Shuu! They stole Miwa's knife!" Came Koi's voice from somewhere, Acchi's eyes canvassed her surroundings once she spun out of Shuu's way. Before she got any farther though, someone had her from the back. Acchi tried to spin out of said captors hands but turned to see Tamaki grinning like a wet dog.

"Yosh! We got them!" Acchi heard Koi right next...wait a second.

"No fair! You're not the prison since you're not really Tamaki!" Acchi pushed away from Koi who had her with a crazy strong grip, a poof of her genjutsu gone after a second.

Chaos ensued, each other fighting to hold or to get free from one another. That is until...

"Oi!"

Next thing they all knew though was complete darkness.

**A/N: **Thanks for reading! I would seriously appreciate reviews and things of that nature, it'd be super duper cool to get feedback on things~~ BUT THANKS FHkk Okay I've said a lot of thanks.

Now for sorry's.

Sorry I suck at action scene's. Sorry for when my writing is poor. Just sorry.


	10. Chapter 10

**深海のリトルクライ ****\- Little Cry of the Abyss**

"言い訳"が欲しかっただけなの

I just want an "excuse",

王子様

my prince.

奇跡も声も魔法のキスも

Miracles, my voice, or even a magical kiss,

必要なかった────

I don't need any of it.

幸せそうな夢よ

Oh, such a happy dream,

消えないで

Don't disappear!

恋してたんだ

For I'm in love.

泣虫ノイズなんて

The noise of such a crybaby,

泡にでもなってしまえしまえ!

should just become a bubble and disappear, disappear!

_Words by _

_Translation by CloveredCinnamon_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, and you know what, I think I'm going to stop putting these up since it's the 10th chapter and I'm a lazy person. So there. I don't own Naruto, but you knew that and I know that. /but these OC's I DO own.

**Warning: **Everyone cusses like a sailor and acts like an old man. I may stop putting these here, too. XD Unless there's something I really do need to warn against, like character death or drastic canon changes. /which there will be kind of but not for a while

"Kocchi, don't ever do that again." Came Katai's gruff voice, a condescending tone that said he meant business.

"Hey! I didn't do anything, it was _you_ who trusted_ me_." Kocchi told him, her face scrunched up in defiance. Curse this Jounin for recommend her using a bomb she'd been _in the progress _of making perfect. How was she to know the effects it'd have when she hadn't even tried it out for herself? She knew it wasn't deadly, she wasn't willing to go the extra mile to test any of her concoctions that would be deadly, but for all they knew this could be harmful to their friends.

"Then maybe I shouldn't trust you next time we decide to partner up." The unspoken words were as followed: Seriously, how the fuck did ninja's barely out of the Academy fuck up a children's game? Namely a children's game that Koi introduced. (It was really her fault.)

Kocchi froze up and stared at Katai. It wasn't like she'd liked him much, in fact she hardly knew the guy...but something about not being able to gain someones trust in which her best friend already had upset her. She was just trying to make friends with Koi's friends...Kocchi resisted the urge to lash out in violence, as she was prone to doing in fits of sadness or obvious anger.

"I-I'm sorry." Kocchi all but spazzed out, clutching her fists to keep from slapping the guy, which she would have anyone else for making her feel so low, but the guy was a jounin and not her stupid father.

Kocchi knew it was her fault, it was her fault for a lot of things...but a bad habit she'd gained over her time of getting the blame thrown at her was returning it tenfold. She wasn't the type to do things half-assed, as Koi would so artfully put it. It wasn't just her fault, right? Somewhere someone was even worse than her, that she was positive of. There were lots of bad guys after all. If there weren't she wouldn't have the need to become a ninja. There would be no desire for her to protect others.

Sure, Kocchi wasn't much of a people person, but there was something about the way people acted and how _human _they all seemed to be when the rest of the world were practically made of monsters. Someday even her would lose that humanity, but those weren't the thoughts a little girl about the graduate the Academy should have.

Kocchi was a skilled kunoichi after all, she worked hard for that. Along with her sister she had started at the age of 5 and worked her way up, and now that it was nearly the end to her four years at the Academy, and she was almost practically nine, she would graduate. And she would be strong by doing so.

Katai reached out and patted her on the top of her head and scratched idly. Kocchi wasn't a dog and she was about to remind him of that, but when she looked up to him she saw that he was smiling. Katai was smiling? That was weird...

A blush hit Kocchi's cheeks and she looked down again, irritated at the perfection of it. Why did everyone but her have to be so good looking? Even Shuu for fucks sake had a pretty boy feel to him! Dammit! One day she too would be able to say she was gorgeous!

"Ah, Katai. So you're actually a closet Loli-con~" came a delirious version of Koi's voice from across the room. The two after having accidentally gassed the poor players of the children's game brought all the kid's limp bodies inside to lay on the hard floors. They were actually kind of stupid for not alerting a Medic-nin of this situation, this concerning four youths of quite the prestige.

Koi slunk over to the two of them and immediately Kocchi knew something wasn't right with Koi.

"O-Oi, Koi...are you okay?" Came Kocchi's weak voice as she watched her friend walk in strange patterns. Koi's face held the look of someone not entirely in-tune with the world, her lips brought up into a feral grin and her usually doe like eyes were even more so as her pupils seemed to be dilated. Koi convulsed slightly as she came to the ground, her knees hitting the flooring roughly.

Katai was at her side in a heart-beat, lifting her tiny body into his arms. He looked over her to make sure of no injuries and looked back at Kocchi in question.

"Just what was that gas?" He asked, his eyes narrowing lightly.

"Um, I think that one was..." she couldn't say it...that it was one she hadn't tested on her father yet. "I-I..."

"Kocchi...have you even tested this gas for effect?"

"N-no..."

Katai sighed, then stopped when Koi whispered something inaudible and then laughed, one giggle after another that led into serious whoops. Katai knocked her out after a while. Another sigh from Katai and he looked towards Kocchi.

"Pick up you're sister, I'll get Koi and Shuu. Tamaki!" Katai called out, and just as if they'd planned it, Tamaki swung into view, a vibrant grin on his face. Like a puppy who wanted to play. "Pick up Yuu, we're making a trip to the infirmary."

Katai gave Kocchi one last look before heading towards Shuu. Another sigh.

**˚✧₊⁎❝᷀**ົཽ≀**ˍ̮ ❝᷀**ົཽ⁎⁺༚

I woke up with a killer headache.

What a birthday, the only thing I could remember was quite frankly the way the world looked different under that weird gas Kocchi had put us under. I was just glad I had little Acchi has a shield so she got most of it. Maybe I shouldn't be glad...should I? As a wanna-be ninja my moral compass wasn't as it used to be apparently. _She_ would've apologized immediately and managed to make even the tiniest of that conversation awkward.

I wasn't her anymore, was I.

When I looked around my surroundings I only saw the hospital white and few bits of vomit green and other weird colors splashed about the walls to make it seem a bit more cheerful, I guess. To me it just looked kind of like over kill. I made a mental note not to end up here often.

Other than the weird color scheme I sat in a long bed where my body hardly even filled it up, which made me realize just how small I was. Especially compared to my peers who were all 9 and bordering on 10. Geez, I definitely needed to grow. In my old life I was very tall, so tall that I'd towered over everyone in my age group and only had men the same height as me. And even that was rare. Perhaps I would be tall, or maybe I'd stay this short forever. I couldn't tell without any hints with my parents not around. I mean I didn't even know how Jii-chan was related to me, I just called him Grandpa because that's what he'd told me to call him. Heck I didn't even know his name!

Then again, that wasn't really important to me, if he wanted me to know, he'd tell me.

"You're finally awake." smoothed out a nice contralto that spoke years. I turned slightly from surveying the area to see a lovely old woman who seemed to be the doctor here. She was dark skinned, her eyes a brightly hued amber brown that dazzled like she knew something I didn't, or at least had many secrets I'd never find out about. She wore an white simple doctors coat and underneath that was a simple sundress. Really she looked a lot younger compared to Jii-chan but well...anyone was a lot younger than him. Her lips pursed slightly at the sight of me.

"Y-yeah." I risked a mumble, then blushed slightly. I was in awe, and forgive me for being so. This woman was a medic-nin! To tell you the truth I'd never met one before, and especially not one so polished and refined looking! Maybe this woman was the Tsunade of Kumo, that was an interesting thought.

Still, I didn't want to risk ending up here all that often.

"You sure have odd friends," the woman said with a soft laugh, her body shifting slightly. "especially one being an accidental drug dealer."

"W-what?" I asked, then I remembered my time being under that odd...gas. Kocchi drugged us...I got that, Kocchi drugged us and got us high. I don't understand.

"Your friend, Kocchi-chan, accidentally applied the wrong type of herbs for her concoction. It's an understandable mistake, her being so young and all."

"Oh." That made sense, Kocchi probably couldn't keep track of everything even if she tried. Until she got professional or something. I didn't doubt her that she could or would, just that she was only nine, forgive and forget those early mistakes. Still...kocchi could make a lot of money off of that gas. I checked inwardly if that was still against my moral code to sell drugs? Yes. Yes it was. That was kind of a bummer, but it was more that I felt wrong corrupting someone who was still child.

"Your other friends are still sleeping, you got significantly less of the gas than the others though, so count yourself lucky. Your grandfather's here, so after your check up, you can go home." The woman smiled again and stepped forward to bring her hand to the back of my head.

"Hey lady," I started. "Today's my birthday. I'm six."

The woman laughed, "You're cute."

Yes, I know I am.

**˚✧₊⁎❝᷀**ົཽ≀**ˍ̮ ❝᷀**ົཽ⁎⁺༚

Jii-chan stared at me trying my best to copy down one of his seals.

"Ease back on the chakra," He said idly as I accidentally let too much slide. I guess I was luckier than the average person since I had an abnormal amount of chakra for a regular person, although being an Uzumaki I was considered average in that area. Chakra control was harder though for me, having the amount I had made anything like that difficult. Unless you had a teacher who too had abnormal chakra.

"What is this one supposed to do anyway?"

"If you read what you were copying, you would know." I looked at the ink, and thought for a while on what it could say.

"Is it for...protection?" I asked, looking at the word mamoru with a brief pause. I tapped at my chin for a moment and sighed.

"You're on the right track so I'll give it to you. It's for protection of your mind."

"Oh, so that's why heart's written here." I pointed to the obscured katakana version of kokoro.

Sometimes Jii-chan's lines were hard to see, I thought this was koko kuchi, which was definitely weird. Depending how you interpreted the koko it could mean something like nine mouths or individual mouth or even here mouth. But luckily there was kanji to let you tell the difference, and it worked much like English sounds and context clues.

Other than those few Japanese, the seal was almost made up entirely of a new language in itself that surrounded the seal in a lovely pattern that inspired familiarity with me. Of course I knew Jii-chan well enough to read these parts. His lines were precise and very well practiced, and you could sense the polite softness that I often associated with him. When one made a seal, they often personalized their lines, either making it thicker to show off a masculine side or making it look more delicate. With Jii-chan his was a worn cross between strong and delicate that told of how many years he'd lived in a single stroke. I felt all fluffy just thinking about it.

I often found that seals were rather easy, either I had the best teacher in the world to guide me into mastery, or I was a quick learner. Then again, I did remember a conversation I'd have with the old man. I had just been four at the time, and breezing through what Jii-chan was teaching as there was the nutritious knowledge I'd hungered for in this lifetime. I knew I was smart to begin with, I mean I didn't work with computers and coding for nothing.

He'd said something along the lines that in his time most of the Uzumaki children were masters by the time they were 10, often because sealing was just as important as eating to the Uzumaki. And really, I could see why. I practically breathed in fuinjutsu like a fish out of water.

"Exactly," Jii-chan said, snapping me out of my reverie. "now since I've added that, this seal could be used as more your heart as well as your mind. In fact, this seal was only made to have a way to combat the Yamanaka clan of Konoha."

"Yamanaka?" I asked, rubbing my head, something was trying to surface but I couldn't see it.

"They're a clan in Konoha with a special technique that allows them to do many things with their minds their opponents minds."

I nodded, oh right. All I could remember myself though was something named Ino, but I don't know why I'd associate Yamanaka with a boar. Oh well. This whole memory lost was something I'd been prepared for, right? It wasn't like I had a permanent memory that'd stay with me forever. Still, for a moment I let myself feel a bit peeved at that. It made me want to mourn for some reason.

"That's scary." I replied, a slight smile edging at my mouth for some reason as I looked at him.

"Not with this seal, it'll keep you safe."

For some reason, I wanted to thank him.

**˚✧₊⁎❝᷀**ົཽ≀**ˍ̮ ❝᷀**ົཽ⁎⁺༚

I gasped. "Wait!" I shouted as I chased after Jii-chan walking down the stairs to enter the shop. "Can I bring a friend over today?"

Jii-chan turned to look at me and smiled. "Koi, did you think I'd say no?"

"No. I just wanted to let you know I'm popular."

I turned on my heel, I didn't have any school that day, and even if I did, I'd probably have skipped since we were going over the basics of chakra control finally after nearly 3 months of schooling there. I wasn't interested as I already knew how to do things like that, sure I wasn't a medic nin good but sealing took quite a bit of concentration, for the tougher seals I'd say it took more chakra control than even healing a bone or doing brain surgery would.

_I wonder what Yugito is doing?_ I hadn't seen her since the day she'd slept over, and I didn't have any contact information on her, though I wished I did. She was a nice person, although she'd turn into a total badass fighting the Akatsuki and being so loyal to Kumo and all.

Was I loyal to Kumo? I would be, they gave me training and friends after all.

If I was Yugito and had to deal with hatred and being shunned by the people I thought were allies...I don't think I could've been like her.

Walking through the village wasn't an altogether new experience, I'd been here for a while after all and the Academy was going to be releasing for break soon. It'd be my first year technically (although I'd only been in schooling for three months, I'd tested out of a bunch of things luckily) in a long sequence of four years total.

In Kumo, we had higher standards than a lot of other villages, only rivalled by Iwa after all, and we had to keep it that way. Everything was a lot stricter than probably something would've been in Konoha but probably more lax than a village like Kiri. Kumo was very competent in the ways of training their young and they tended to like to show off. After this year, everyone I knew would be graduating to Genin level while I stayed in the Academy for conditioning and mental training. Everything after that seemed to blur to me.

Why did I have to make friends with others who were older than me? Geez, they were all going to leave me alone and be too busy with d-ranks to play with me. If genin work resembled how they did it in Konoha, anyways. I wouldn't be lonely though, not entirely. It'd be a lot quieter but I'd have Jii-chan to keep me company.

Kumo had distinct areas and parts that clearly stated social statuses and things of that nature. You had an entire section all to Ninja and an entire section for all Civilians, although I could see a few ninja stepping in there. Wasn't like civilians needed weapons or things only a ninja would need. The civilian homes were quite frankly a little more fabulous than those that belonged to ninja's but it was kind of understandable if you thought about how the village ran itself. Ninja were soldiers.

I passed through a group of chuunin/genin on their way to training or something and spotted the girl I'd been looking for.

"Yugito-san!" I nearly shouted as I paced forward to catch her attention. She turned towards me and grinned brightly.

"Koi-chan!" I tried not to notice the new attire, it wasn't the ill-fitting kimono but something similar to what she'd worn in the manga. At least I could remember that. "Guess what!?" She nearly yipped with joy. I gazed at her in surprise before smoothing my face of emotions.

"What is it?"

"I'm a Chuunin!" Yugito brought me in for a hug.

Oh yeah, the Chuunin exams were around this time, huh. For a moment I wondered if anyone canon was there, to give me a better idea as to what time frame I had been born in. I glanced at Yugito, how could I do this without alarming anyone? Ninja's were tricky things and I honestly didn't feel smart enough to outsmart one, especially not one who just turned Chuunin. I supposed I could've just tried to find B, but I honestly didn't know where to find him. He was a mystery to me. Plus I don't think I could take a rapping ninja.

"That's great!" I said, allowing her to hug me even for just a moment before pushing her away. Before I got to my interrogating I gave her peers a look. They glanced back at me curiously but said nothing, as if they were somewhat uninterested in me.

Her team was made up of the usual three man squad, except here in Kumo since we had more military power it gave us the freedom to pair others based on their results in a way that made it so they'd succeed more easily. That's how it also seemed in Konoha but there was an equal amount of women here along with the men being ninja's so it was nice to see three man squads that had more than one lady taking action.

I guess if I had to classify Kumo under any country I could name in my old life, this place would be America, only because I was American and I could see the similarities. This place was a melting pot of ethnicity and diverse chakra types, although of course lightning was the main one that showed up among the natives. It was nice and comforting to be in Kumo, probably more so than if I'd gone to Konoha, there would be too much culture-shock I guess.

Her team, as I was saying before, consisted of a timid looking girl with dark skin and boy that stood quite tall with more of a sunned look to him. They both looked at me like I was below them, and I guess I kind of was, being an academy student and all. Heck, they'd probably look down on me even after I was genin.

"Hey, Yugito, who's your friends?" I asked a little softly. She looked down at me, then waved her hands in a great show of exuberance, she looked a lot more confident than the last time I'd seen her. I wonder what happened.

"These two are Yumino Arai and Naegi Sayaka!"

Arai tipped his head to me while Sayaka gave me a fleeting look.

"I'm Sawada Koikan!" I gave them, feeling mildly proud of myself.

"Koikan? That's a weird name."

"Fishy feeling..." Sayaka put in.

"S-shut up! It's love feeling! At least I'm not rude, like Arai!" Yup, why Kumo? Why did you name your shinobi after adjectives that matched their character perfectly? Arai meant rough, coarse, wash, and rude. He could be either of those things. And he was.

"Oh aren't you smart?" Arai gruffed out. I forced back a growl in my throat and cleared it.

"I don't need to talk to you." I turned to Yugito. "Want to come to Jii-chan's shop with me? If you're free anyways."

"Sure," Yugito looked back at her friends. "Want to come with? Her grandfather's a seals master, I'd bet he'd have something dangerous and cool we could use."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Arai put in, grabbing at Sayaka's hand to pull her away from the two of us. Yugito looked back at me and looked like she wanted to say something but didn't.

"Is he always that mean?" I asked blandly.

Yugito gave me a look, "It's in his name."

"Riiiiiggghhhttt."

Oh, Kumo.

As we walked I pointedly asked Yugito about her exams, getting an idea for how the competition was like and things like that. She told me all about it as we paced our way through the civilian side of the village. She talked about the rounds and how smoothly her team got through, and of course she complained about how tough the villages had made it.

Hearing her speak I realized that it could only be wartime, she told me how she'd never become chuunin so young if it weren't for the war. She was scared of it too, and it gave me a perfect idea of what time frame of the story I was born into.

So basically I was in the Kakashi Gaiden time zone, whether or not I was the same age as him and his group or younger I couldn't tell but at least I had an idea of how far things had progressed plot wise in the world.

I sighed into my hand, smothering it with a cough.

"Are you okay? Do you have a cold?" Yugito asked, her hand extending from where she was to check my forehead. I batted her hand away and smiled.

"It's nothing!"

**A/N: **Anyways, you guys are awesome and actually I'm sorry but next chapter there's a time-skip into four years later, just for the sake of not boring anyone with nonsense filler. Since that's what it'd be if I continued. Sorry it's a long time, but I'm pretty anxious and there's a lot of ground the cover as it is.

Also I've changed the timezone I'd originally been planning for this story. Sorry to that one person who I told. Haha.

**Omake 1 - Note 1; June 16th**

The name I go by is Uzumaki Kusa. My real name is Kushira, though but I don't use it.

Mama and Papa told me to keep a journal since it's going to help me with seals later on supposedly. I'm an Uzumaki so I have to do my best and be just like Papa! He's super mean sometimes though, I hope he doesn't read this...

Papa is kind of strict with me, but the only one he's actually nice to is Mama, which isn't fair. He's even mean to all the people in our village, but he told me long ago that since he's the clan leader that doesn't matter much. Being nice doesn't matter when you're protecting them as the best in the village. The sad thing is, I'm probably not even going to get to inherit that title.

I feel like the only Uzumaki that hadn't gotten the same insane amount chakra and spiritual energy, the only one who's more prone to sickness than the rest.

That's so unfair.


	11. Chapter 11

So I've lived in this world for nine years and what have I accomplished?

Well a mastery of seals for one thing, as Jii-chan had told me it was quite common for an Uzumaki child to master seals by the age of 7. But since I was a little slow on the uptake I only recently was able to take on that role of master sealer. Though we never told the Raikage how advanced in the arts I actually was, as it had always been a secret that we were Uzumaki.

The premise was that Jii-chan had been apprenticed by one so he was a master but he held no relation to the clan other than that. I was his grandchild who had my parents die in a war and one of the conditions that had been made for me to become a ninja of Kumo was that I had to become a seals master under his watch. Since Kumo had a lack in that resource, when in Konoha there would be the best sealings around.

And so now I could do many things with sealings. Except for the skin ones. The permanent ones.

Every time I'd mentioned them Jii-chan would get a dark look on his face and drop the subject completely.

So I knew it was forbidden to pass down to me.

Anyways, besides all of that, everyone else was on cleanup duty after our lost in the war. As alien as it seemed not too long ago apparently a huge uproar between the already seething lands decided it was time to just give up. For now.

Shuunei and Yuu had graduated that same year I became 6 and were on the waiting list to become chuunin. Which reminded me of how much time had actually past since we were kids playing our stupid games. I never got to see the two of them, since they were on cleanup duty with a bunch of the other new genin.

Kocchi was specializing already to become a top class master of poisons, along with Acchi who was training in the hospital day and night to be a medical ninja. Kocchi was quickly becoming an infector, continuing her work on poisons with T&amp;I under the countries glorified poison control. Now that they were 12 they were soon going to take under the chuunin exams with some of their class so that they could specialize further than what their jounin sensei would allow.

They were such adults while I was just barely graduating the Academy.

"Koi-chan," the head teacher snapped my mind away from my thoughts. "You won't be in a team."

I glanced up at the unpleasant woman in confusion. "What do you mean? I have to have a team. I can't become a chuunin without one." I paused. "Is this because I don't pay attention in class? You're holding me back because while my body is here, my head isn't and so my attendance is atrocious."

The class laughed at my stupidity but the confusion was real.

"No, not because of that. You should know, it's because you're already specializing, you don't need a team."

The class gawked.

"A genin specializing without a group?" I heard someone whisper.

"That's a little..." another one said among the few others.

I sat back in my chair with a faux-haughty look. "That's right you guys, since my Jii-chan is a seals master, I'm gonna be one! Come to our store! I'll give discounts now that you guys are graduating." I heard a little slip in my voice. Jeez, it wasn't like I'd actually been excited to see who I was getting paired up with. Or to graduate with these losers

"Let's continue..." The head teacher droned on, leaving me to wallow in my sadness.

After class while we received our headbands, I lit up if only slightly that I'd finally become a full-fledged ninja. Just not one with a team. And a genin one but still!

I sighed.

While everyone else got to see their new teacher I got no one and was sent home early. Guess it was good that I didn't have a team though, I'd have to make friends out of them and that seemed hard. I just didn't know why it felt that way.

On my way I felt taller walking through the streets. I mean I had grown quite a bit since I was a toddler, as to be expected and so now I didn't feel as grounded as I once did. I felt like the taller I got the farther away from reality I went.

Which doesn't really seem all that fun when I thought about it. Slipping past what was real and wasn't kind of sounded scary, which thinking now maybe I'd always been crazy delusional to think this world was real.

My eyes scanned the world around me and I stopped for a second to take it all in when I was suddenly knocked to the ground.

"Hey little girl, didn't mean for you to get hurled!" A booming voice started and I was shocked as I looked up to see B glancing down at me. It was hard to see his eyes with his sunglasses in the way but I was shocked nonetheless.

"B-B..." I whispered. He raised his eyebrows at me, but ignored my squeak when he went to grab my wrist to pull me up. Was I that little?! I felt like a stick in comparison to his meatiness and the feelings I felt before about being able to tower over some things receded into the depths of my mindscape. I didn't tower over anything compared to this man.

"Hey, you're pretty light, you should probably eat, or you might die."

"I'm not going to die." I pouted, brushing the sand off of my butt. "I eat a lot for my size actually. So much you wouldn't believe!"

B laughed, his hand scratching at his head. "Is that so? Well you might as well show."

I glanced up at him confused before he took my wrist and dragged me to a restaurant right next to where we stood.

"Hey! Y'know some people might consider this kidnapping!" I warned him, even though he was B, I couldn't just go with some stranger!

He sat us down at a booth near the entrance and looked at my face diligently. His eyes were stuck on the top of my head and the lines of my jaws and eyes. I felt nervous under his scrutiny, and a little worried that the red in my natural hair might've been starting to show again. I did use temporary dye a lot, as I was always a little scared it permanent dye would affect my natural hair color.

"I'm just trying to set us right, I didn't mean to give you a fright."

"It's fine, if you pay for this meal." I told him. Trying to act less than an Uzumaki and more like some other form of clan kid. I was more worried that he could see I was Uzumaki having probably met Kushina before in the battlefield during the war, same with how he'd met Naruto's father. I mean Minato hadn't been Uzumaki in the first place but he'd always felt like one.

I tried not to fidget.

He stayed quiet for some reason and I was fine with that, as I didn't know if my mind was capable of understanding his rhyming in Japanese.

"Never mind, I've come to find, you look strong, it's in your eyes." B said, a bright smile coming to his face. I blushed if only slightly.

"It's not nice to stare!" I said right away, feeling my cheeks with the knuckles of my chilled hands.

He chuckled, and somewhere inside me flushed. Older men were the death of me.

-line end scene- (Sorry for the ill-written B, I'm not a rhymer. I can't even spell that word without autocorrect.)

After my brusque meeting with B, I let out a sigh of relief and met my friends who were supposed to set up some celebratory party for me at our favorite dango shop nearest to the genin training fields. Since I was supposed to be near there with my new sensei. But I didn't have one.

I saw Kocchi perusing the fields her eyes intent on finding my form, so I subtly sidled up next to her.

"Whatchu lookin' for?" I asked, and watched as she let out a squeak and then her face morph into confusion.

"Koi what are y-"

"No I'm not skipping out, and yes I did graduate. I just don't have a team apparently."

Kocchi's face grew surprised, then a sincere expression of pity rested on her eyes and lips. "So, what are they doing with you?"

"I'm specializing for some reason."

"Oh, so it's a decision made by Raikage-sama." Acchi said coming up next to me. I nodded towards her and saw that she had brought an entourage. Yuu smiled down at me, being the tallest in the group now while Shuunei glared at my form, a slight tilt to his lips.

It was the first time I noted the changes in my friends appearances. Acchi and Kocchi had changed a lot more than the boys. Acchi had her hair hang in a long pony tail that cascaded down her back, her bangs hanging in her eyes,reminding me of a black haired Road to Ninja Ino. Kocchi on the other hand went short, her hair being chopped all the way to her ears, which really appealed to her form, showing off her pearly neck. They both wore similar outfits, Acchi's more conservative while Kocchi revealed a lot more.

Acchi wore a long dress that hugged her waist but flowed outwards. It zipped in the front and had padding at the collar, at her skirt she had a slit at her legs to give her movement in her legs, and the fabric seemed to changed at the buckle on her waist, going from a heavier rougher fabric to light flowy material. She wore spandex shorts much like Sakura. The dress had no sleeves and revealed her toned arms. It was a nice navy blue, and for shoes she just wore your standard sandals.

Kocchi had on a crop top that showed off her fishnetted belly. She wore a skirt with spandex shorts and knee socks underneath. On her arms and legs were knee and elbow pads, as well a few kunai packs and places to store things. Surprisingly though, she wore sandals heels, reminding me of a bad ass mini Tsunade. As if Tsunade and whatshername had a kid. Also as a side note she looked like she'd be ready to go bicycling any moment.

I could understand the changes, Kocchi had to work outside a lot of the times so she wore less clothes, while Acchi worked inside and thus was able to be more conservative. They were both really practical and I loved it. I resisted the urge to drool.

Yuu had grown out his hair slightly, whereas when he was a kid it spiked along his forehead and back of his head, now it hung in front of his ears and nape of his neck. His hair looked nearly white, while his skin had gotten darker working outside a lot underneath the sun. He was tall, slim, and had built a forming build of muscle on his body.

Shuunei was still pretty short, taller than me but as tall as Acchi and Kocchi were, meaning he hadn't hit his growth spurt yet. His hair reminded me of Minato's in the way he had side bangs hanging along the edges of his jaw line, while his bangs curled though and most of his hair went kind of all over the place, but I guess he looked cute. Still looking like a pretty girl. I mean boy. Cough.

Both boys wore something similar to what their respective clans were wearing. Which was a combination of their clans emblem and colors. But I could see them soon wearing those chuunin flak jackets.

I on the other hand hadn't changed much. My hair had been cut recently by Miwa but it was still pretty long, reaching to my butt, so I often pulled it up into a ponytail or bun, but today I left it down. My hair remained black over the years, sadly. My hair was such a lie. And other than that, I just wore a t-shirt and shorts most of the time, looking very civilian-esque. And unlike my group of ninja friends I didnt have severals of the same outfit to alternate every week. I had several piles of clothes that all looked different. Because I wasn't crazy like these people.

"Lame, you don't even have a team?" Shuunei scoffed at me.

"I think it's great! Sounds like you're really impressive to me, Koi!" Yuu cheered me on, what a gentle giant he was.

I smiled at Yuu, ignoring Shuunei.

"Thank you, Yuu-kun." I told him.

"Well at any rate! Congratulations at graduating from that dump!" Shuunei hit me on the back, a slight blush at his cheeks as he looked away from my eyes.

"Thank you, Shuu-kun." I hit him back, and watched as he spasmed for a bit, his face lit up in annoyance.

"Yeah! Now you're genin, like us!" Acchi said brightly.

"But we're not going to be genin for long." Kocchi amended.

"Who knows, I could be in the competition for becoming Chuunin." I chuckled slyly, as if that would ever be. I wasn't all that great, I mean everyone had that point in which their power to do anything would never change.

"Like that'd ever happen." Shuunei joked.

"So what are you even specializing in anyways Koi?" Kocchi asked,

"Well you know how Jii-chan runs a seals shop? I'm going to be doing that."

"Don't you have to be really smart to be able to do that?" Shuunei laughed. "Yeah right, you're more suited to being a stupid genin."

I'm already a master though. I felt two conflicting emotions at the same time, should I tell them I'm already a super BA with seals or just make them think I'm a newbie with no training.

"What, like you?" I spat back, a small glare at my eyes. I harumphed before continuing. "I'm already adept in the field, with the help of a master, I'll be able to become one myself."

They all looked taken aback, glancing at my face in surprise.

"Really?" Acchi asked, patting me on the shoulder. I nodded.

"See guys, there's a lot of things you don't know about me." A lot of things. Like my real heritage, and why I'm supposedly smart when I'm actually an idiot with old fleeting memories of somebody who I used to call 'me'.

Not that they'd ever find out the last one, I didn't even know if they'd ever find out the other secrets I had.

"Pfft, yeah right, we can read you like a book." Kocchi laughed, taking my other shoulder. "Now! Let's go celebrate!"

* * *

When I came home I found Jii-chan in the midsts of someone incredibly important.

I bowed immediately at the sight of the huge man in the foyer of our closed for the day shop. He looked like he could break every furniture in the shop in one fell swoop, which if he wanted to, I knew he could.

"Raikage-sama, welcome to our humble shop." I said in the most formal Japanese I could say.

"Your Japanese needs work." He said as I tipped my head up to see the amusement in his eyes.

I nodded, making a note to study proper Japanese more.

Oh god the Raikage is here, inthefleshohgodhelpmenow.

"No need to be nervous, take a seat next to me, Koi." Jii-chan told me, waving to a chair next to him, which I obliged in his offer and tried to calm the beats of my heart.

Dokidoki, big men ahhhh, I felt so _tiny_ in comparison, heart pounding. I tried to take my mind off of the fact that his muscles were bulging in some pretty nice ways. I stared mesmerized by the sheer strength the Raikage possessed. The sensors in my head were going off the charts with the power of his chakra and presence.

"I understand you're becoming a seals master." the Raikage began, addressing me as if I was an adult.

"Y-yes." I murmured.

"Well I'm sure you know that only those who are chuunin can specialize in specifics with a master. But we're making a few exceptions for you, as seal masters are pretty hard to find and we'd like to see you in action very soon." In other words they wanted to put me to work immediately. I gulped at that.

"I see."

"We looked at your test scores and your aptitude for chakra sensing and control. And also at your lack of talent with anything else. And from this we've decided as a whole, to place you under an apprenticeship with one of the villages greatest seals master."

My jaw dropped. "A-are you sure?" I asked.

"Of course, I wouldn't make this up."

Neat.

"Are you sure...I mean I'm a fresh genin off the oven. Maybe I haven't cooked long enough. You might get sick." I said nervously, laughing as I picked at the skin on my fingertips. Oh god my analogies.

A laughed, a huge belt befitting a man of his caliber. "Why not! You have previous training after all, you're grandfather even said it wouldn't take long for you to become a master." I already was...

"O-okay." I nodded. Then lifted my head up with happiness. "Of course I'll do it!"

What a way to shock the pants off of Shuunei! Hah! Raikage noticed me!

* * *

My new 'master' of course hadn't been my grandfather but instead the guy who'd done the sealings for B and Yugito. He was an old man who'd apparently married an Uzumaki woman who died shortly after they were married. Of course he'd been the woman's student and they'd eventually fallen in love.

I learned this because the man told me so just after meeting me.

"You'd look better in red." At first I'd taken this cryptically, like the old man telling the little girl that she'd be better off dead. Awkward chuckle. It sent chills down my spine but once I realized he'd been talking about my hair and I'd finally took notice of his eyes going back through time to set his face with fondness, I'd deflated.

"I'm Chou." the man had said, taking my dainty hands in his own old shaking one's very gently.

"Koi." I replied, a grin coming to my lips as I sat down with the dude on the other side of an oak table.

"What do you know child?"

_A lot of things. _"Just the basics. I've memorized a few seals but some of them are a little difficult for me. I can do storage seals, paper bombs, and some other things because sometimes I help my grandfather with the seals in our shop."

"I see." Chou gingerly took to sipping his tea, his face and hand shaking as he brought the beverage to his parched looking lips. This dude was complete dust.

When one actually took a mastery of seals it meant that one had memorized and mastered up to 1000 seals. That's what Jii-chan said. I wondered curiously if he too had taken to learning that much or he just fell short of mastery. Then again he could be well beyond what I thought any kumo seals master could accomplish.

"How did you learn seals?" I asked in the silence. I felt serene, as if I was finally at peace here. The nervous agitation that had been gnawing at my stomach left me in a cool breath.

"My wife, Hikami. She was from the deceased clan of the Uzumaki." He said softly. I nodded. Then he was probably good. An Uzumaki wouldn't marry just anyone.

"Uzumaki?" I asked meekly. I kind of wondered what other people thought of the demise of my home village and clan. I didn't know what to think, I was born shortly after our fall.

"Ah yes, you wouldn't know of them. They were monsters, each and every one of them." He said fondly, as if being such a thing was a good thing. "Most had flaming red hair, the color of blood and a personality to match. But they were all good people."

I nodded, I know.

"I was but the age of twenty when I met Hikami. I came from Kumo to propose a partnership to the clan head, this was well into the era of the warring clans."

"What really?" I asked, damn this man was older than I thought! If he was twenty during that time he was well older than than the Tsuchikage! I was stunned into silence. I also never knew a clan from Kumo tried to get with the Uzumaki, wow.

"Yes, I'm quite old." He said knowingly. I nodded in agreement. "They didn't agree though, as the clan had already formed a bond with the Uchiha and Senju clan. Anyways, that's besides the point."

"How did you two meet?"

"I found Hikami in a park yelling her head off at some other woman."

"So Hikami was an angry woman?"

"No, that's just how the Uzumaki are, quick to butt heads as you'd young'ns would say."

"Anyways that's how I met her, she soon after became my teacher when I begged her and then after that my wife."

"Did you have kids?" I asked, curious if another family member was out there.

"Yes, two. Both are quite alive." He seemed upset for some reason so I switched the pace of the conversation and we spent that afternoon chatting about his wife and my grandfather.

Guess I would have a lot to learn from the man after all.

\- end scene -

I told Jii-chan everything about my day spent with my new teacher and he seemed glad, his worry vanishing as I chattered away in his lap while he hummed and took bites out of some wrapped mochi I'd bought from the market.

I kicked my feet around, we'd recently bought a TV so I sat watching the latest hero show for civilians. It was quirky, some of the stunts weren't even done by ninja's so the motions were sometimes lacking. Like watching an episode of power rangers when you had standards for how actions scenes and dialogue should go. It'd been my first time watching something like this here, but I'd decided to give it a try.

I laughed when Dodaro, the evil Emperor of the West took a stab to the butt. Prison rape.

_1000 years of death! _I echoed inwardly as the TV resounded sounds of explosions and cheering.

"Jii-chan! Dodaro! AH-HA! His butt!" I rolled off of him rolling my body around hectically. "Prison!"

He smiled, "You're such a kid."

When the hero, aptly named Yuusha came into the folds, I'd recognized his red hair almost instantly. My heart pattered wildly when he took a pen and ink and started to write something down. Is it a seal? I felt myself riding up to the screen, captivated as he looked downwards and wrote with a sort of rhythm.

I was disappointed when it was just a letter he'd been writing detailing that he'd be returning to his country at last. A good end for him I guess.

When the credits appeared my head whirled when I searched for his name.

Yuusha played by... god damn it, he wasn't an Uzumaki. At least his surname didn't give that away. His name was Izumi Usui. I was quite disappointed. But I knew I'd watch more of this series.

I sighed, deflated as I laid on the wooden floor disappointed.

"What's wrong, Koi?" Jii-chan asked, looking up from his mochi he hadn't finished. "Are you bummed it's over? You know the next season will be coming out soon."

"No, no...It's just..." I bit my lip but decided not to hold my tongue. "Yuusha had red hair."

Jii-chan paused and looked at me curiously.

"Well it's quite possible. We didn't all die y'know, contrary to popular belief. We scattered."

And something scattered has a possibility of being put back together.

* * *

So the plot thickens!

I'm sorry I haven't been active in literally months. I've been hella busy and things have been going roughly for me so yeah. Plus, I'd been focusing on my art more so than FF, sorry guyswww

ANYWAYS, THIS IS ACTUALLY PLOT HEAVY EVEN THOUGH IT SEEMS FILLER. It's another introduction of sorts.


	12. Chapter 12

"No!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. A murder of crows outside of my window scattered with my pitch as I came crashing downwards to the floor. I couldn't help my tears as I took in what happened.

"Koi!" Jii-chan came scrambling in, his breath hitching when he saw my fallen form. He was at my side in an instant and I balled myself into a ball, grateful for the warmth he provided in my time of need. "What happened?" He questioned seriously.

I couldn't even explain as I choked out in a sputter of spit and tears. My nose ran as I looked towards the TV and then back to Jii-chan.

"D-dodaroOOOOOOOOO," I cried out, palming my fist to the tip of my mouth as I bit on it in place of a handkerchief. When I felt chakra tugging at my skin to heal my aches I let go.

Nothing could heal this pain.

"Dodaro..." I hiccuped, rubbing my eyes vigorously. "He died."

"Dodaro? Who's Dodaro?" I pointed to the screen, and when I looked at it I felt the stinging in my heart when I saw that stupid Yuusha was the victorious one.

"He wasn't a good guy so they killed him." I mumbled my explanation, "But they didn't see that he didn't want to be a bad guy. His people forced him to be one." I cried.

"Okay, Koi, I believe you. How about some cake." Jii-chan offered.

"I'm gonna need more than that." I said as I looked towards Jii-chan. "I was in love. Painfully in love."

"Koi, you don't even know what that is." Jii-chan laughed at my childness.

I cringed. "I know what love is because I love you." I mumbled. "Now fork up that cake. I'm gonna also need some ice cream stat."

Even my old enemy could cheer me up through this tough time. I was ten now and the last season to Hi no Kuni Hero was over. I was over. I didn't have a life because it was over and I'd never get to see Dodaro-sama again.

I ate the cake, two ice cream sundaes and one entire container of mochi all by myself and afterwards I sat in my room alone as I thought about how revolting the world was seeming to me. How disgusting I was. And how I was sure my stomach would beat me up later.

When was I going to see Dodaro? What about Yuusha? If I saw Yuusha I'd have to trap him in some sort of cage just so I could put him through the same pain as he had done to Dodaro. I needed to go for a walk.

I felt heavy as I slugged around all that food and felt even slower traversing around the market by food rather than on rooftops. I felt dreary like I was in some sort of dream when I spotted Shuunei and some girl playing a game of something I couldn't quite see. For a moment I just thought, holy shit Shuunei's with a girl? Then I felt it.

Holy shit Shuunei's with a GIRL. G. I. R. L. GIRL.

I did a double take walking over to their table placed outside of a shogi cafe and noted how Shuunei's tongue stuck out when he made his next move.

"Yo!." I blasted him, and when I did Shuunei jumped, the board falling over and I eyed the destruction with a little bit of awe as I looked at the fallen pieces. It resembled how I felt about Dodaro's untimely demise.

"K-koi?" Shuunei glanced warily at me before glaring outright. "I'm in the middle of something, go away."

"What?" I felt hurt as I looked at him. Then I looked at the girl who sat on the other side of the table, her cute ringlets curling around making her soft and rounded. The girl had a heart shaped face and her skin was a beautiful shade of milk chocolate.

I eyed her warily.

"It's for work." He told me and I calmed a bit. He looked me in the eyes before standing up. "Hey have you been crying?"

"Yeah. I fell down."

He glared.

"Dodaro died and my life is over." I told him. He looked at me with pity, already knowing of my crush on the villain, although he never understood it.

"I smell sweets on you...how much did you eat?"

"Enough to give me five full belly aches." I told him truthfully. "But I'm fine...who's this chick?"

Shuunei remembered his place and looked towards the impatient girl. She huffed. "Ah, my client."

"Client?" I asked. I wonder why they'd play shogi then. That seemed like a friend thing to do, or a really stupid date idea.

"Yeah, we're on a fake date so my boyfriend gets jealous." The girl huffed again, obviously angered by my intrusion. I held back a laugh. _Date._ It's a fake date, I reminded myself.

"This warrants a chuunin?" I asked Shuunei.

"It's paid enough for it to garner one." He replied. I chuckled inwardly.

"Okay, lovebirds." I was ready to go then but Shuunei grabbed my wrist.

"We're not lovebirds." He shuffled. "And make sure you let your stomach settle before doing any heavy exercises."

"'Kay, Mama Shuu, tuudaluuu!"

"Lulu!" A voice shouted at the ending of my lu, then came forth a boy around Shuunei's age, tears in his eyes. "H-How could you..." he looked at her, then Shuunei, then to me. Then back to her. Then he ran away.

"Ugh this is all your fault!" Lulu shouted at Shuunei and I before booking it after the guy.

We paused, both of us reeling with confusion. I just had a loved one die and now this. I felt like utter crap as I finally remembered to shuffle away from the crime scene. Shuunei followed after me.

"Hey, so how has your training been going?" He asked. I shrugged.

"It's been good. I'm learning some pretty cool stuff. What about you?" To be honest, I was learning a lot. More how to put the seal into action than making seals and just having them do what you wanted them to do. I was getting used to working on with seals in battle because that was my weak point but as I practiced with other jounin and chuunin who were conveniently around for me and Kou to mess with I was getting a feel on how to improve that.

"Fine, I've learned a few jutsus for my kekkei genkai." Ah right Yuu and Shuunei both had kekkei genkai in the form of chakra release. I kept forgetting they were clan people.

"Cool, not as cool as my seals though."

"You sure about that?"

"Certain."

"Then you're on."

* * *

We met at the chuunin grounds, as all the other ones were reserved for genin classed nin training. So we took our stances in dimly lighted world. It looked near the end of the day but Shuunei and I burned as we sized each other up.

A cool breeze whipped my black hair into the wind and I grinned with the beauty of our terrain. Perfect for seals, an open space with heavy rocks at my disposal. Shuunei slid a slit-eyed look my way, his lips pursed.

"You're not gonna get into trouble because you didn't report your mission right?"

"I have to report tomorrow morning, this mission was supposed to take longer." Shuunei told me, readying himself in a stance close to the ground. With quickly make hand signs, he pressed his hand to his lips and breathed through it. I was slightly surprised when out came molten lava streaming from his mouth and forming a pit around him.

"So you're like a castle with no bridge." I mused when I looked at him, interest peaked. "That's _kind of _cool, but let me show you something better."

With a flick of my wrist, scrolls slid into my hands from my sleeves, like a magician's act. I smiled at the familiar feel of scratchy scroll paper and flicked the two scrolls outward in a slight show feeling the magic of eager chakra touching the roots of paper before I could even command it to. Ink formed on the paper, the words _sudden death_ appearing down in perfect calligraphy.

Shuunei didn't allow himself to look phased, instead, I could only see the small bob of his adam's apple when he looked at the words. With another surge of chakra into the scroll, out popped a large amount of- you guessed it!

A large amount of dandelions I'd been picking from random gardens for months landed on the unsuspecting Shuunei, obscuring his vision from the real trick at play. Through the ground, snaked underneath another scroll. It hummed with chakra, which was my mistake.

Shuunei saw it coming before the scroll could do it's job and boosted himself upwards using the ground underneath him. He pivoted to the space behind me and slammed his fist into the back of my head.

With a gasp I slipped forward, only to turn forward to see him coming for me again.

_What is this? _

My eyes widened as he came over me, looking tall and unbreakable. His eyes shone as he shadowed me.

_When did he become this..._good!?

I ducked as he slammed his fist forward into the space I no longer occupied. He pivoted backwards when I went to jab him in the waist, then flipped his body nearly onto me, landing at my back to reach his hand to my throat before I could help it.

"Use your chains." Shuunei commanded, almost as if he was disappointed.

A small grin made it's way to my lips, and I devilishly obliged.

Chakra leaked from my pores in a wonderful light and sparkled as they came together, mending with my desires to up this kid. Two chains flashed outwards from the small of my back and extended like wings fluttering outwards.

It was all show. I've never _really _learned how to use my chains in battle. And it doesn't seem like chains are an attack for every situation either. It's tiring, you have to keep hold of your desires and keep willing the chains to stick or it'll disperse and become nothing. You basically have to commit to whatever it is you're fighting for. And not every battle demands that.

It's not my favorite technique, not like my seals. It eats a lot of chakra because the chains are entirely formed from the stuff. Both physical and spiritual chakra mend together to create something physical and present like chains. I think we're the only clan in existence that's figured how to create something from chakra unrelating to your chakra type.

It's simply if you have large sums of chakra you're willing to give for some dazzlings things coming from anywhere you want on your body, you can accomplish it. That's why it's necessary to be an Uzumaki to form it, unless you're some jinchuriki or you've done some stuff to increase the amount you have, because you're literally taking the chakra inside of you and dispersing it outwards to create something.

You can disperse your chakra to walk on water or trees, but that's cycled chakra. It cycles back into you after a while to join the newly made reserves. That's why doing stuff like walking on tree's and water is beneficial to stocking up on your reserves. When the chakra you've used to do said activity is gone, automatically new chakra is replaced. Then after a while, the same chakra you used to water walk comes back. It's a small amount that gets cycled through, so there's not huge leaps in the amount you have unless you do it everyday.

It's how even civilian born first generation ninja can even become a ninja. Through _lots _of tree walking.

But when using chains, the chakra you're dispersing is never cycled back in, it's gone, leaving your core to produce fresh chakra faster. Basically you have to have a fast chakra metabolism like the Uzumaki to do much with the attack. And I'm a child, so if I were to use the attack too often, I'd end up killing myself if my core can't produce at the same speed.

I slammed the shining chains into the ground, reaching for the scroll I'd sent inside at the start of the match and pulled when I felt the tug. Using a substitution jutsu, my chains shimmered out and left the scroll at my back instead.

"Fuinjutsu! Justice Prevails!" I shouted in English, feeling a click of _rightness _when I shouted my pet name for the technique. Instantly the scroll engulfed Shuunei and I no longer felt his chest at my back. With a sigh I looked towards the blue sky. It never seemed to be grey. Always this big expanding blue.

He was actually pretty difficult, I hadn't expected it. But I had forgotten he was a clan kid.

_What the hell!? _I heard Shuunei shout through the seal. With a small laugh I rolled the scroll and slipped it into the holster at my hips that hung to the backs of my knee and _tried _walking like a badass.

_What _is _this place!? I-Is this what you've been learning?_

"Of course, there's more up my sleeve than just this." I said with gusto.

_You're gonna let me out, right? _

"Hmmm…"

_Hey! This place is really creepy, Koi! _

"I wouldn't know. Hey, can you tell me what's inside?"

_Nothing. It's absolutely nothing._

Really? I'd expected like some kind of vortex looking thing.

I sighed, and reached back for the scroll. A light click and the jutsu came undone.

"Hey, Shuu-kun?" I start tentatively, I brought my right hand towards the sky to look into the darkness of it. There were thousands of beautiful stars that glimmered throughout, but for some reason the sky always seemed to be darker than usual these days. I twisted my body to face Shuunei on the small pit of grass that hadn't died with the rest of it.

"Yes?" He replies but he doesn't face me, instead he's enraptured by something in the sky. I look at his face for a moment and feel comforted that he's near me even though the sky has dimmed these days. Like a few stars are missing.

"How does everything look to you?" I wondered aloud.

"It looks how it looks, idiot."

I release a small laugh at his reply and look at his fingers twiddling idly.

"No, like describe how it looks to you." If I were his actual friend I would've slipped my own hand through his. It'd be innocent and cute, like holding Yuu's hand in the market, almost.

Shuunei was quiet for a moment, he continued to look up but his eyes started to search instead, no longer fixated on one thing. For a moment I think he's gonna give me a flat answer like, _things are how they are. _But, finally he gives in and turns to face me.

For a moment I don't register how close he is to me until his eyes are lingering on my eyes in soft surprise, and my own are widening in response. I slide an inch away, looking to my peripheral at nothing in particular for a quick second.

"Are you asking because you're blind or because you're honestly curious how _I _view the world?"

"The latter." I tell him in a whisper, only for him to hear.

He looks bitter for a second, looking back up, unknowingly his shoulder touched my own. He looks dark, broody almost. I wondered for a while if he was the making of another Sasuke, of another Madara, or someone entirely worse. They all start this way, huh?

_Save him. _ It's the little voice inside my head that nags every time I see someone who looks as dark or maddened like him. The voice isn't persistent though, so easy to ignore when I wanted to. Still, I didn't like what it said. _Save him? _Like hell I would. People like him don't want or need saving.

I laugh inwardly, almost a scoff really.

And the people who do the saving get hurt in the end.

_What do you prefer? _

"I can't tell you that."

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter! Aughh it's been so hard to write lately every time I start I just feel like it sounds dull or something. But I got this one through! Anyways, I ended this chapter like this because things are gonna get kind of dark. So be prepared for possible some tear jerking moments. I've decided that some chapters, the SUPER important ones are actually gonna be drawn and made in manga format so I'd be looking forward to that. Except I'm not sure where I'd wanna post it. I'd hate doing it on Deviantart because I just think it'd be too much of a hassle so I may just do a zip file with the pages in it that anyone can download. But don't worry! Those who want to just read those chapters, it'll most likely be written by my sister (whose so so much better than me with writing) because I'll be much too busy with drawing the pages( which may or not be colored).

Anyways! Thank you, thank you! So SOOOOO much for every favorite, follow and just ANY support for this story. I know it's been a long time coming, but I swear things will be far more active with this!

Also, if you haven't already, check out my new SI! It's called Tangents of a Different Kind, and it's from a perspective of Jiraiya's daughter.


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